In response, the government declared a 30-day state of emergency.
Officials confirmed late Monday that a tenth officer had died following the attacks

Ten police officers have died in a wave of coordinated attacks by gangs in Guatemala, triggered by riots in three prisons and spreading into the streets of the capital in retaliatory killings.

In response, the government declared a 30-day state of emergency.
Officials confirmed late Monday that a tenth officer had died following the attacks.

Lawmakers approved the emergency measures in a near-unanimous vote, which had already come into effect the previous day, according to The Associated Press.

The violence began Saturday when inmates from the notorious Barrio 18 gang took dozens of guards hostage at three prisons. It escalated the next day with attacks on police in and around Guatemala City after authorities regained control of a prison holding the gang’s leader, Aldo “El Lobo” Duppie.

Authorities said the gang, involved in drug trafficking across Central America alongside rival group Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), was demanding special privileges for its members and leaders.

On Monday, President Bernardo Arevalo published the state of emergency in the government gazette, granting police powers to limit demonstrations, detain suspected gang members without a judicial order, and restrict or search vehicles.

The decree condemned the “coordinated actions” of gangsters, including “armed attacks against civilian authorities.”

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