Nine Guatemalan Police Officers Killed in Gang Attacks
GUATEMALA CITY — The death toll from suspected gangsters’ attacks on Guatemalan police rose to nine Monday, as Guatemalans awoke to heavier security and curtailed rights after President Bernardo arévalo declared a state of emergency.
The violence started Saturday when inmates seized control of three prisons in apparently coordinated riots,taking 43 guards hostage. The gangs were demanding privileges for their members and leaders, according to authorities. Shortly after police liberated one prison Sunday morning, suspected gang members attacked police across the capital.
on Monday, National Civil Police Director David Custodio Boteo said that a ninth police officer had died early Monday from his injuries, adding that “there are several wounded who are in critical condition … Some also suffered amputations.”
Police honored the fallen officers in a ceremony Monday, where flag-draped coffins sat in the Interior Ministry.
“today it pains me to give each one of the families this flag, symbol of the nation that will not forget the sacrifice and commitment of their police fallen in the fulfillment of their duty,” Arévalo said Monday.
Outside the interior Ministry, José Antonio Revolorio, 72, father of officer José Efraín Revolorio Barrera, 25, said, “I hope that the criminals who did this to my son will one day pay for it, that the law will go after them. And that this doesn’t end hear, because my son was an honest man, competent at his work.”
simultaneously occurring, the government gazette published Monday Arévalo’s declaration of a 30-day state of emergency, saying there were “coordinated actions by self-named maras or gangs against