CASERIO LA BOMBA, Guatemala.– On May 15, 2011 drug cartel gunmen entered the town of Caserio La Bomba in the Peten province near the Mexican border and killed approximately 27 people, decapitating most of the victims. Twenty-five of the victims were male and two female.
Local police deemed it one of the most devastating mass murders in over a decade. David Gonzalez national security policeman stated, “This is the worst massacre we have seen in modern times”.
Police say the killings could possibly be linked to the murder of 56-year-old Haroldo Waldemar Leon, brother of suspected drug trafficker Juan Jose Leon, who was gunned down in a rural area of northern Guatemala.
Guatemala’s northern border is an very active drug transportation point for cocaine moving north, mainly to the US from South America.
In February, the government lifted a two-month-long state of siege declared in Alta Verapaz province, during which security forces were sent to subdue and investigate drug-related violence.
The state of siege gave the army permission to detain suspects without warrants, this resulted in the arrest of at least 20 suspected members of the Zetas gang.
The Zetas are a group of ex-soldiers who began as hit men for Mexico’s drug cartel before breaking off to form their own faction. They quickly become one of Mexico’s most notorious gangs extending violence all the way to South America .
May 17, 2011
Central America and the Caribbean, Guatemala