Guatemala Declares Emergency, Deploys Forces After Deadly Attacks

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo declared a 15 day state of emergency in the Sololá department on Monday after coordinated assaults by armed men on a military post and a police station left at least five people dead and prompted burials and a mass grave in the affected towns. The measure, described by some as a state of prevention, covers the municipalities of Nahuala and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, roughly 150 kilometres west of Guatemala City.

Authorities say attackers also cut roads and hijacked buses in what local residents and reporters described as an effort to force security forces to withdraw so armed groups could seize control of the area. The violence unfolded on or around December 14 and prompted a presidential press briefing the following day in which Mr. Arévalo vowed to reinforce security. The president spoke alongside Interior Minister Marco Villeda and José Giovanni Martínez Milán, who is serving as acting defense minister and head of the general staff. At the briefing the president said, “We are at a critical moment for the department of Sololá and the security of the country.”

Local officials declared two days of mourning in Nahuala as burials began. Visual reporting from the scene showed victims being interred in a mass grave, and local sources recorded the names and ages of those killed. In a phone call a local man identified as Mr. Guarchaj read names and ages and said, “We’re not making anything up here. I’m only speaking the truth.”

Nahuala and neighboring Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan have long been enmeshed in a century long border dispute that has periodically flared into violence. Authorities and residents said the recent attacks appeared coordinated and aimed at exploiting those local tensions. Officials have not publicly attributed the operation to any named criminal organization, and detailed casualty breakdowns and the number of attackers have not been released.

The declaration allows expanded security operations in the designated area for 15 days and authorizes actions intended to restore order. Government officials said they would increase deployments to the region, but provided few operational specifics. The move marks a significant test for the Arévalo administration as it faces rising expectations to protect rural communities while avoiding excesses that can come with emergency powers.

Humanitarian concerns are immediate. Residents in affected villages are alarmed at the speed and coordination of the attacks, and local leaders say the violence risks displacing families and degrading access to basic services. The use of emergency measures will likely intensify scrutiny from human rights advocates and indigenous organizations, who have historically warned that security operations can disproportionately affect indigenous communities if safeguards are not enforced.

For now, Sololá remains tense and the full toll of December’s attacks is still being clarified. National authorities say their priority is to reestablish control and protect residents, while investigations continue into who organized the assault and whether long standing local disputes were exploited to escalate violence.