A member of Guatemala’s Congress and three police officers assigned to protect him were killed when their convoy was ambushed by armed men in the country’s east, the authorities said.
The attack took place in the municipality of Rio Hondo, in the eastern department of Zacapa, where unidentified gunmen intercepted the convoy, Al Jazeera reported.
The lawmaker was named as Julio Cesar Portillo Paz. He was gravely wounded and taken to the regional hospital in Zacapa, where he died hours later of gunshot wounds to the head, according to CNN Espanol. He was 36. Three agents of the National Civil Police who were guarding him were killed in the same attack.
Portillo Paz represented Zacapa in Guatemala’s current legislature, which runs to 2028 — a department the authorities regard as a significant corridor for organised crime. He was originally elected on the Cabal party ticket but was expelled from it in April 2025 over allegations involving illegal commissions, and had joined the congressional bloc of the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party only on 31 October, about a week before he was killed.
President Bernardo Arevalo condemned the attack and said he had instructed the security services to give full support to prosecutors investigating it. Writing on X, he said criminal violence would not be allowed to override the lives and safety of Guatemalans.
Hiru News, crediting Reuters, carried the same account and confirmation of the death from Portillo Paz’s party.
Not reported
No motive has been disclosed and no one has been identified as responsible. The authorities have not said whether the attack is being treated as linked to organised crime in the department, nor whether Portillo Paz’s recent change of party affiliation is a line of inquiry.
