Symbolic imageGuatemalan lawmaker and three police officers killed in Zacapa attack
Congressman Julio Portillo and three police officers were shot dead on Friday in Rio Hondo, eastern Guatemala. President Bernardo Arévalo ordered security forces to help identify those responsible.
The attack took place on a road in Rio Hondo, Zacapa department, on Friday, 6 November. Portillo was taken to hospital with serious injuries, and his party, National Unity of Hope (UNE), later confirmed his death, after a local fire service official had first said he was unharmed. According to the Interior Ministry, the three National Civil Police officers were shot while responding to a direct attack on the lawmaker by unknown assailants. Authorities have not disclosed a motive or named suspects. Arévalo said the officers died in the line of duty and told security forces to cooperate with prosecutors.
A region of drug trafficking
Zacapa is the territory of the Lorenzana family cartel, which has links to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, according to Le Monde and Al Jazeera. Le Monde reports that eight civilians were killed in the province on 27 September in clashes between rival gangs.
Second high-profile killing in three weeks
About three weeks earlier, former anticorruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa was shot dead in Guatemala City, which raised fears of a return of politically motivated assassinations. Authorities have not established a connection between the two attacks.