Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo declared a 30-day state of siege Sunday after suspected gang members in Guatemala City killed seven police officers, his administration said. The declaration came after inmates rioted in three maximum-security prisons and took hostages, followed by government moves to retake prison control.
Arévalo said on national television that inmates rioted in the prisons and took hostages with the intention of making the state accept their demands, which he described as demands that had, for decades, been granted. He said the violence that followed the retaking of the prisons was “an attempt to terrorize security forces and the population so that the government relents in its head-on fight against the gangs.”
The president said all of the hostage guards were freed Sunday. He also said the gangs’ attempt to challenge authorities was a sign that his administration’s security efforts were working, even as the state of siege still required congressional approval.
Under Guatemala’s constitution, the declaration can take effect before lawmakers vote in cases of serious violence, insurrection or action by organized crime groups that exceeds the ability of civilian authorities to respond. Arévalo said the state of siege can limit constitutional rights including freedoms of movement, gathering and protest, and he said it was necessary to ensure the safety of Guatemalans and allow the government to use all its resources to combat gangs.
After riot squads stormed Renovación prison in Escuintla, about 47 miles (76 kilometers) southwest of the capital, to free nine guards held hostage, an Associated Press journalist saw the freed guards escorted from the prison about 15 minutes later. The guards appeared unharmed, and no injuries or deaths were immediately reported. Later Sunday, authorities retook control of the other two prisons in the capital, freeing six guards at one and 28 at the other, according to the National Civil Police.
On Saturday, the Interior Ministry said 46 guards were being held hostage, but the AP reported that it was not immediately clear what explained a discrepancy with the 43 freed on Sunday. Inmates had taken control of the three prisons the day before in a coordinated uprising to protest prison administrators’ decision to strip privileges from some incarcerated gang leaders.
The prison unrest and subsequent security operations coincided with apparent retaliatory attacks outside prison walls, according to the report. Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda said armed gangs killed seven national police officers in assaults across Guatemala City, and the clashes wounded another 10 officers and killed one gang member.
Villeda said police had arrested seven gang members, confiscated two rifles and seized two vehicles. He praised the police response as “the result of not negotiating with criminals” and said, “The state will not kneel before these criminals,” portraying the attacks on police officers and the prison riots as part of a response to the government’s intensifying crackdown on organized crime.
The AP said the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are powerful in Guatemala, as they are in neighboring Honduras, and that they were in El Salvador until President Nayib Bukele declared a state of emergency in March 2022 after gangsters killed dozens. It reported that El Salvador’s state of emergency remains in place and that more than 90,000 people have been arrested under it.
With tensions high, Guatemala’s Ministry of Education said it would suspend classes across the Central American country for Monday the 19th “to prioritize the safety” of students and teachers. The report said police reinforced guards at several prisons and increased joint patrols with the military.