At least seven people were killed and 13 wounded in an armed attack Tuesday night at a funeral in downtown Guatemala City, which authorities have linked to gang disputes. Guatemala has long been plagued by the notorious Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs. Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez attributed the massacre to their ongoing rivalry.
Armed men stormed a funeral home during the wake of a Barrio 18 member who had been killed on Monday in another part of the Guatemalan capital, according to the minister. “While the wake was underway, rival gang members from Mara Salvatrucha burst into the funeral home and opened fire on the family and friends of the deceased,” Jiménez added.
A spokesperson for Guatemala City Hall, Amilcar Montejo, said that “the unidentified attackers opened fire inside a funeral home,” resulting in “7 dead and 13 injured.” “Several wounded victims were also found just meters from the scene of the attack,” Montejo added.
The attackers, who were riding motorcycles, fled the scene. Authorities cordoned off the area where the massacre took place while forensic teams recovered the bodies.
Unacceptable
The minister stated that the wake was considered “high-risk” given “the profile of the deceased” and criticized police officers assigned to the area for abandoning their posts before the deadly attack. Jiménez called the situation “unacceptable.” “They will be reassigned and investigated by the Internal Affairs Unit. If found responsible, they will be immediately brought before the courts,” he said.
The Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs—MS-13 has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States—fight for control of territories in Guatemala where they extort shopkeepers, transport workers, and other citizens. Those who refuse to pay are often killed.
“The gangs are destroying each other. This incident was not directed at the working public but is the result of the cancer these criminal groups represent for the country,” said the security chief.
These gangs also operate in Honduras, while in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has imprisoned thousands of gang members under a state of emergency that human rights groups criticize for alleged arbitrary arrests.
Guatemala ended 2024 with a homicide rate of 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Interior Ministry—double the global average. However, this figure has fallen since 2014, when it was 29.6 per 100,000.
Authorities attribute roughly half of all violent crimes to clashes between drug cartels and territorial disputes between gangs.
