Gunmen have killed a sitting Guatemalan congressman and three police officers in an armed ambush in the east of the country, in one of the most serious attacks on an elected official in Guatemala in recent years.
The attack targeted Congressman Julio César Portillo Paz on Friday afternoon as he travelled through Río Hondo, a town in the eastern department of Zacapa, a region long known as a corridor for drug trafficking. Portillo was wounded in the shooting and taken to hospital, where he died hours later. His death was confirmed late on Friday by the National Unity of Hope party, known as the UNE, and by Guatemala's Congress.
Three officers of the National Civil Police who were guarding the congressman were also killed. Vice-President Karin Herrera named them as Jorge Paau Xicol, Erick Armides Ramos Osorio and Fernando Reyes Aldana. The Interior Ministry said the officers died while repelling what it described as a direct attack on the lawmaker.
The ambush took place at kilometre 137 of the Atlantic Highway, one of Guatemala's main roads, near a police station in Río Hondo. Reports from the scene said the attackers opened fire on the congressman's convoy, and that two of the officers killed had been riding motorcycles alongside it. Early accounts from local firefighters had briefly suggested Portillo was unharmed, but that proved wrong, and Congress later announced his death in a statement on X, mourning what it called the tragic passing of the representative for Zacapa.
President Bernardo Arévalo condemned the killings and said the three officers had died in the line of duty. He instructed the security forces to cooperate fully with the Public Prosecutor's Office, which is leading the investigation. Congress, in its own message, expressed its grief at the loss of Portillo, who was 35.
Portillo had won his seat in the 2023 elections as a representative of the opposition Cabal party, but later switched his affiliation to the UNE, the party led by former first lady Sandra Torres, which is positioning itself ahead of the 2027 presidential election. He represented Zacapa, a department on Guatemala's eastern border where organised crime groups have long competed for control of smuggling routes.
That geography is central to the questions now surrounding the attack. The Lorenzana family cartel, which has links to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, is known to control much of the drug trade in Zacapa. The authorities have not disclosed a motive for the attack and have not identified those responsible, leaving open whether Portillo was targeted because of his political work, his party switch, or the criminal rivalries of the region he represented.
The killing comes about three weeks after the killing of former anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa, although the authorities have not established any connection between the two attacks. The proximity of the two killings has nevertheless deepened unease among Guatemalan officials and prosecutors, many of whom already work under the threat of organised crime.
For Guatemala, the assassination of a sitting lawmaker strikes at the heart of the state's authority. Attacks on politicians and justice officials have repeatedly exposed how far criminal groups are willing to go to protect their interests, and each killing raises fresh doubts about whether elected representatives in the country's most violent regions can be kept safe.
What happens next will depend on the investigation now under way. Prosecutors must identify the gunmen and establish whether the attack was ordered by a criminal organisation, while the government faces pressure to show it can protect lawmakers travelling through areas dominated by the drug trade. Portillo's funeral, expected to draw thousands of mourners including fellow members of Congress, will also become a moment of public reckoning over the violence that claimed him.
