Guatemalan lawmaker and three police officers killed in Zacapa attack

Guatemalan congressman Julio César Portillo Paz and three National Civil Police officers were killed in an armed attack on Friday in Río Hondo, Zacapa, President Bernardo Arévalo said.

Why it matters: The assassination of a sitting lawmaker, three weeks after a former anti-corruption prosecutor was shot dead in the capital, sharpens fears of organised crime violence reaching into Guatemala's politics.

Data as of Reuters report of November 7, 2026, read in full in this run via its SRN News syndication after the Al Jazeera version in the feed queue was blocked to this reader; the same item was carried by Al Jazeera in the queue. Figures and statements are Guatemalan official statements as reported by Reuters. Developing item.

Guatemalan lawmaker Julio César Portillo Paz was attacked on Friday in Río Hondo, in the eastern department of Zacapa, and died after being taken to hospital with serious injuries, Reuters reported, with his death confirmed by his party, the National Unity of Hope (UNE). Three National Civil Police officers were also killed, and President Bernardo Arévalo said they died in the line of duty and ordered security forces to cooperate with prosecutors investigating the killings, adding that criminal violence would not be allowed to prevail.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive or identified who was responsible. The killing comes about three weeks after former anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was shot dead in Guatemala City, a case that heightened concern over organised crime’s influence and a possible return of politically motivated assassinations, though authorities have not established a connection between the two attacks.

Guatemalan lawmaker and three police officers killed in Zacapa attack

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