Violent Start to Year in Guatemala

La Hora

While January is not yet complete, it is shaping up to be a pretty violent one in Guatemala. On Sunday, three young men were shot and killed and five others were seriously injured during a funeral service in a Protestant Church on the outskirts of Guatemala City. The funeral service was for a young man who had been murdered on Friday. Police are blaming the killings on youth gangs.

On Saturday night, one person was killed and another four injured during a shootout at a disco in Zona 1 of the capital. And in a particularly bloody day, twenty-three people were murdered on Friday. Six of the victims were women and one was five months pregnant.

On Thursday night, four people were killed (including a ten-year old boy) and another fourteen wounded during an attack targeting youths playing basketball or soccer in the Guatemalan capital. Like the Sunday killings, police are speculating that the motive for the shooting may have been score-settling between gangs.

In a survey earlier this month, seventy-eight percent of the respondents reported that violence and insecurity were the main problems facing the country. Last week's events are not going to change that.