Clashes in Guatemala's predominantly Indigenous town of Nahuala have left 13 people dead, the mayor told AFP on Sunday (December 14, 2025), blaming the army in part for the incident.
Tensions have flared in recent days in the area — about 150 kilometres (93 miles) west of the capital, Guatemala City — prompting President Bernardo Arevalo on Sunday to declare a special state of emergency.
Nahuala and the neighbouring Maya community of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan have been embroiled in a century-long border dispute, which has left several dead in recent years.
Arevalo claims that organised crime groups are stoking violence in the region in a bid to prompt the Army's withdrawal.
"Thirteen people were brutally killed in an ambush carried out by the Guatemalan army and people from Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan," Nahuala mayor Manuel Garchaj told AFP by phone.
