On the night of October 17, 2024, 40-year-old Francisco Pop Ico was fatally shot while driving his motorcycle between the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Pop Ico was a fierce human rights defender and native of the Mayan Q’eq’chi community of Santa Elena, Petén. He was murdered a day before a court hearing against him and four other former coworkers, who were accused by a long-operating palm oil company, Industrias Chiquibul, of usurpation and threats after a labor strike where he and his colleagues were defending their labor rights.
The murder of Francisco Pop Ico was far from an isolated incident. 2024 set a record for violence against public figures in Guatemala. We work on the Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) project, which tracks incidents of lethal violence against a range of public figures throughout Central America. Initially, VAPF data covered 2008 to 2022, during which time Honduras consistently had the highest rate of VAPF in the region. As we’ve updated VAPF data to the present day, preliminary results show that targeted attacks in Guatemala noticeably increased the last two years. Historically, the average annual number of attacks in Guatemala was between 24 and 25, but in 2024, the country surpassed 50 attacks, and registered another 40 in 2025.
As Pop Ico’s case illustrates, the criminalization of human rights defenders, particularly those who defend the lands of Indigenous communities and labor rights, is a common tactic in Guatemala to silence those who threaten the interests of large industries. There have been no arrests related to his death—a sign of the rampant impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of such attacks. Impunity lowers the costs of targeted violence against public figures and enables the continuation of state-criminal networks that facilitate violence. Although Guatemala was briefly an exemplar of how to address impunity and violence with the now defunct International Commission Against Corruption and Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), since the end of CICIG impunity has again increased. Beyond the political backlash against the CICIG and rampant impunity, recent cases—and the larger historical context of the country—show how extractive industries, U.S.-corporate interventions and neoliberal policies, and the unresolved legacies of the Guatemalan genocide and civil war continue to drive violence against public figures in the country.
Banana Republic Legacies & Labor Leaders
On October 4, 2023, Doris Lisseth Aldana Calderón was shot to death on her way home from work in Izabal, the banana producing region of Guatemala. She was one of two trade union representatives at BANDEGUA—a subsidiary of the American company Del Monte—and led the Izabal Banana Workers’ Union (SITRABI), which protects around 3,000 workers at BANDEGUA. María del Rosario Rosa Ramos, another leader of SITRABI at BANDEGUA, had been killed just a month earlier.
Guatemala has a long, sordid history with banana companies and specifically the United Fruit Company (UFC). UFC engaged in highly exploitative practices, both in terms of how they treated workers and the political influence they wielded in the region. In 1954, the UFC and their allies at the U.S. CIA and State Department planned the coup against democratically elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, triggering a brutal 36-year long civil war. During the war, U.S.-backed Guatemalan security forces were responsible for forced disappearances and scorched earth policies targeting Mayan Indigenous villages, amounting to acts of genocide.
Guatemala has a long, sordid history with banana companies and specifically the United Fruit Company (UFC).
In 1972, Del Monte bought UFC holdings in Guatemala and quickly engaged in similar practices of labor exploitation. To suppress labor unrest, Del Monte provided benefits for a privileged workforce—a key tactic implemented by various other multinational corporations.
In this context, the deaths of Aldana Calderón and Rosa Ramos show ongoing violence against banana workers and union leaders in Guatemala. The Public Ministry’s Special Unit for Crimes against Unionists opened an investigation into Aldana’s death. However, there is no information available on investigations into the death of Rosa Ramos, and there have been no arrests for the deaths of either woman, again showing the role of impunity in these killings.
Scorched Earth Policies
On June 5, 2024, José Alberto Domingo Montejo was traveling with Marcelo Yaxón Pablo and his son, Gustavo Yaxón, along a rural road in the Escuintla department, when they were ambushed by armed paramilitaries. Domingo Montejo was a lawyer defending the rights of Indigenous communities and farm workers, as well as an active member and legal counsel of the Peasant Unity Committee (Comité de Unidad Campesina, CUC). Marcelo was a well-known CUC leader. The men were reportedly headed to finalize land title legislation in the community when they were attacked. Domingo Montejo was fatally shot. Marcelo Yaxón Pablo died from his injuries five days later.
This type of violence by state forces or paramilitary groups against Mayan Indigenous communities reflects the legacies of the Guatemalan genocide that remain present today.
This type of violence by state forces or paramilitary groups against Mayan Indigenous communities reflects the legacies of the Guatemalan genocide that remain present today. The same day Domingo Montejo and Yaxón Pablo were attacked, members of the Guatemalan National Civil Police forcibly and violently displaced 35 Mayan Q’eq’chi families in the municipality of San José el Tesoro in the Alta Verapaz department. Previously, on May 22, the same state authorities had displaced dozens of Mayan Q’eq’chi families from their traditional territories in the community of Buena Vista, Izabal. Both Izabal and Alta Verapaz were sites of egregious atrocities committed during the Guatemalan civil war.
During that time, army general and de facto President Efraín Rios Montt and Guatemalan military leaders friendly with the United States destroyed entire Indigenous communities in the name of fighting Communism and advancing the neoliberal agenda of the Reagan era. Today, while the Cold War justifications for violence have largely been replaced, neoliberalism and the expansion of extractive industries continue to perpetrate violence in Guatemala, especially against Indigenous leaders and their communities.
The End of CICIG & the Gray-Zone of Criminality
On February 24, 2026, Marvin Rolando Cruz Guzmán was injured by two assailants on a motorcycle as he arrived at his family farm in El Mirador, Dolores, Petén. Cruz Guzmán served as mayor of Dolores from 2008 to 2024 under the party Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE). He sought reelection in 2023 under the party Vamos por una Guatemala Diferente (Vamos), but was defeated by Francisco Morales Guerra.
After the attack, Cruz Guzmán was transported to a nearby hospital, but died upon arrival. His vehicle was bulletproof, yet the 47 bullet casings left behind at the scene of his murder suggest his attackers used heavy caliber rifles.
One theory about his murder is related to the belief that he provided the authorities with information that led to the arrest of the current mayor’s three brothers. The men were charged with cocaine trafficking in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, and currently await extradition to the United States. Others have theorized that his murder was tied to his plans to run for mayor of Dolores in the upcoming 2027 elections.
The circumstances surrounding Cruz Guzmán’s death highlight what scholars have called the “gray zone of criminality,” that is, the “space where the state and crime intersect and corrupt members of state security forces and criminals give rise to OCGs [organized criminal groups].” The gray zone of criminality flourishes in authoritarian regimes which foster state specialists in violence who are able to regulate and profit from the criminal underworld in exchange for political loyalty. Even as these countries shift towards democratic rule, if they fail to adequately dismantle state-criminal networks and hold violent state actors accountable, these state specialists in violence with ties to the criminal underworld remain.
CICIG’s success in challenging the corrupt status quo ultimately led to its downfall.
Guatemala’s CICIG was a promising model in addressing impunity and dismantling this grey zone of criminality. In cooperation with public prosecutors, the CICIG achieved a significant reduction in violence through judicial action as it dismantled state-criminal networks and over 70 criminal structures. Researchers estimate its effectiveness prevented approximately 30,000 homicides between 2008 and 2019. CICIG even reached the highest echelons of corruption in Guatemala, including a revealing investigation of widespread government fraud and co-optation of the state that brought forth then President Otto Pérez Molina’s participation in a fully formed criminal organization, leading to his resignation.
However, CICIG’s success in challenging the corrupt status quo ultimately led to its downfall. In 2018, former president Jimmy Morales, called for the termination of CICIG following an investigation into Morales and his party for having received and accepted illegal party donations, including from drug traffickers. Then U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (FL-R) also contributed to the termination of CICIG as the United States, a key funder of CICIG, withheld economic support in 2018. Despite the UN’s and the Guatemalan constitutional court’s rejection of the unilateral termination, CICIG came to an end in September 2019. In spite of various credible allegations, Jimmy Morales remained in office for the entirety of his term and has been granted prosecutorial immunity.
Since the end of CICIG, Guatemala has witnessed rising levels of impunity and criminal violence. The rampant impunity for state specialists in violence and organized crime—exacerbated by the US-led war on drugs, US drug consumption, and arms trafficking—in Guatemala often have lethal consequences for public figures like Cruz Guzmán. Two days after his death, the National Civil Police and the Public Ministry conducted a raid on a house in San Benito, Petén, believed to be the hideout of the alleged killers, though authorities were unable to locate anyone.
Silencing Voices
On December 16, 2025, Jorge Agustín Zapeta Aguilar’s lifeless body was found in a rural area of El Aguacatal, Suchitepéquez. He had been missing for two days and his body showed signs of blunt force trauma. Zapeta Aguilar worked as a journalist and teacher. He was also an active member of the Association of Guatemalan Journalists (Asociación de Periodistas Guatemaltecos) and worked for the local news site, “Freedom of Expression” (“Libertad de Expresión”). According to his family, Zapeta Aguilar had received death threats before his murder. Despite strong demands from his family and justice organizations, including the International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists, for an exhaustive investigation into his death, additional details of the incident are yet to be announced and there have been no arrests.
Silencing the voices of journalists like Jorge Agustín Zapeta Aguilar enables the violent legacies haunting contemporary Guatemala. Research shows violence against journalists is indicative of seriously deteriorating human rights and that it decreases their coverage of sensitive and dangerous topics.
The killings of public figures like Jorge Agustín Zapeta Aguilar, Francisco Pop Ico, Doris Lisseth Aldana Calderón, Maria Del Rosario Rosa Ramos, José Alberto Domingo Montejo, and Marvin Rolando Cruz Guzmán undermines the rule of law and democratic governance in Guatemala. These murders violently stop the work of the targeted individuals andsend a chilling message to entire communities. Ultimately, these deaths not only reflect unresolved historical legacies that continue to perpetuate violence, but also the relentless and remarkable resilience of those on the frontlines fighting for a more just, democratic, sustainable, and humane future.
Laura Blume is an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno in the Department of Political Science. Her research focuses on the politics of violence in Central America. Her book, The Art of Trafficking: How Politics Shapes Narco-Strategies and Violence in Central America, was published by Oxford University Press in 2025. She received a 2022 Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholars Award to support the construction of the Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) dataset.
Yajaira Vargas Castro is an undergraduate student in the Honors College at the University of Nevada, Reno. She began working on the Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) project in January 2026.
Millie Sanchez Torres is an undergraduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She began working on the Violence Against Public Figures (VAPF) project in 2024 and has received multiple Nevada Undergraduate Research Awards to support her work with Dr. Blume.