Guatemalan Lawmaker Portillo and Three Police Officers Killed in Zacapa Attack

Guatemalan congressman Julio Cesar Portillo Paz was attacked on Friday, Nov. 6, in Rio Hondo, in the eastern department of Zacapa, and was taken to hospital with serious injuries, Reuters reported. He died hours later in hospital. Three National Civil Police officers guarding him were also killed in the attack.

Portillo Paz represented the Zacapa district in Congress. His death was confirmed late Friday by Guatemala's Congress and by his party, the National Unity of Hope, known as UNE. The attack brought the total killed to four: the lawmaker and the three officers in his security detail.

The attack on the Atlantic highway

The attack took place on Friday afternoon at kilometer 137 of the Atlantic highway in Rio Hondo, according to The Insight International. Portillo Paz was taken to hospital after the attack, but he did not survive his injuries.

Vice President Karin Herrera named the three officers killed as Jorge Paau Xicol, Erick Armides Ramos Osorio and Fernando Reyes Aldana. Two other officers in the security detail survived unhurt. The names came from Herrera, in reporting by The Insight International citing Prensa Libre.

No further detail about the attackers was confirmed in the reports. Authorities have not disclosed a motive and have not identified who was responsible.

President and Congress respond

President Bernardo Arevalo condemned the killings. He said the three officers died in the line of duty and ordered security forces to cooperate fully with the Public Prosecutor's Office investigation, Reuters reported.

"We will not allow criminal violence to prevail over the lives and safety of Guatemalans," Arevalo said in a post on X, according to Reuters.

Congress also marked the death in a statement posted on X late Friday. "President Luis Contreras, members of the Board of Directors and lawmakers mourn the tragic passing of Congressman Julio Cesar Portillo Paz, representative of the Zacapa district," the statement said, in wording carried by a Reuters wire republication.

A seat won in 2023, then a party move

Portillo Paz won his seat in 2023 for the Cabal party and later moved to the National Unity of Hope, the party led by former first lady Sandra Torres, The Insight International reported. He sat for Zacapa, the district where the attack took place.

Zacapa is a department on drug trafficking routes where the Lorenzana family cartel, linked to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, is known to operate, according to The Insight International. The reports did not link the attack to any group, and officials have given no motive.

Second high profile killing in about three weeks

The killing comes about three weeks after former anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa was shot dead in Guatemala City. Authorities have not established a connection between the two attacks, Reuters reported.

For now, the confirmed record is short. A sitting congressman and three police officers guarding him were killed in a Friday afternoon attack on a main highway in Zacapa. Two officers survived. The president has ordered full cooperation with prosecutors. Who carried out the attack, and why, has not been stated by authorities.