Guatemalan mayor shot dead during Christmas parade

Nelson Luciano Marroquín, mayor of the municipality of Masagua, was murdered on the night of this Saturday while participating in a Christmas parade in southern Guatemala, local media report. The attack by unknown individuals occurred while he was accompanied by his wife, greeting and conversing with neighbors in the town of Obero, in Escuintla. The politician received several shots and was admitted to a hospital, but died upon entering the emergency room. The attack also left one of his bodyguards injured.

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The President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, expressed his "total repudiation" of the politician's assassination. "I have given immediate instructions to the Ministry of the Interior so that those responsible for this despicable act are brought before the law," he wrote in a tweet. The president asserted that "all types of resources are being mobilized to stop the violence and respond firmly to these events." For his part, Sebastián Siero, president of the National Association of Municipalities, declared on his X account that both Masagua and Guatemala "have lost a great man" and an "excellent municipal servant." "It is urgent that the Executive stop making excuses and put an end to the violence that is happening throughout the country. Enough of extortions and murders," he emphasized.