Guatemala Declares 30-Day State of Emergency After Gang Prison Riots

Guatemala Declares 30-Day State of Emergency After Gang Prison Riots

Guatemala entered a 30-day state of emergency after gang-led prison riots and retaliatory attacks left at least 10 police officers dead.

Guatemala’s authorities have declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency following a wave of violent gang attacks targeting prisons and police, in which at least 10 policemen have been killed after prisoners took control over three maximum-security prisons last week.

President Bernardo Arévalo announced the emergency measure on Sunday after authorities regained control of the three prisons where inmates had rioted and taken hostages a day earlier.

Announcing that the government had regained control of the three prisons, Arévalo said that “there has not been a single casualty to regret” during the operation. 

The violence began on January 17, when coordinated riots erupted in three prisons in and around Guatemala City, during which several prison guards were taken hostage. The following day, police stormed the Renovación I maximum-security prison, which houses Aldo Dupie Ochoa Mejía, known as El Lobo, the leader of the notorious Barrio 18 gang, who is serving combined prison sentences totaling 1,670 years.

Over the next two days, authorities were able to free 40 prison guards who had been taken hostage by inmates, said the interior ministry.

Authorities said the riots and ensuing kidnapping of guards aimed to pressure the government into transferring gang leaders, particularly El Lobo, to lower-security prisons and granting them additional privileges.

Arévalo described the attacks as an attempt to “terrorize the security forces and the population” in order to derail the government’s campaign against organized crime gangs and their "reign of terror.”

The United States designated Barrio 18 as a terrorist organization last September, calling it “one of the largest gangs in our hemisphere.” Guatemala’s Congress followed suit a month later, officially designating the criminal organization as a terrorist group under new anti-gang legislation.