GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) — Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on Sunday said he had declared a state of emergency in two municipalities in western Guatemala a day after armed men attacked a military post and a police station, cut off roads and hijacked buses, killing at least five people.
Criminal gangs are attempting to force security forces to withdraw in order to take control of the region, Arévalo said. He said his government would reinforce security.
This state of emergency, the first declared by his government, will last for 15 days in the municipalities of Nahuala and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan in the department of Solola.
“We are at a critical moment for the department of Solola and the security of the country,” Arévalo said, accompanied Interior Minister Marco Villeda and José Giovanni Martínez Milán, the acting Defense Minister and head of General Staff.
Arévalo showed videos and photos from Saturday’s events, in which armed men – some dressed in camouflage or military uniforms, wearing helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying high-caliber weapons – can be seen shooting or taking cover just meters away from a busy main road.
The criminal groups are linked to extortion and drug trafficking and pose a threat to the local communities, Arévalo said.
“The communities are not alone,” he said.
Interior Minister Marco Villeda said that five people had died. On Saturday, the director of the National Civil Police, David Botero, said that six people had died, including a soldier.
The incidents are believed to have started last Thursday when armed men attacked the military post, leaving four people wounded at that time.
The two municipalities have had disputes for several decades over water sources and local roads they both claim as their own. These disputes have led to dozens of deaths.
“In this case, there was no attack between the communities. This was an attack on the military post, intentionally and specifically,” Arévalo said.
The state of emergency limits the rights to open-air meetings, public demonstrations and events. It allows for the dissolution by force of any unauthorized gatherings, groups, or public demonstrations, particularly those involving weapons or violent acts.
It also limits the right to protests that affect free movement or public services, which can be forcibly dissolved, and restricts the right to carry weapons.