Image source, JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP via Getty Images
The inhabitants of two Guatemalan departments have spent their first night under a state of siege.
The government of President Bernardo Arévalo decided to restrict for 30 days the constitutional rights to free movement, assembly and demonstration, as well as the requirement of a court order to carry out arrests and searches, "with the objective of strengthening security, protecting the population and guaranteeing public order," according to the decree.
Additionally, it sent some 600 soldiers to the area, according to Colonel Mynor Reyes, Press Director of the Ministry of National Defense (Mindef) to the newspaper Prensa Libre.
The exceptional measure comes after a wave of armed attacks recorded since the end of September. The two most recent occurred on Friday and left seven dead, including deputy Julio César Portillo and three police officers.
Between January and October 2026, Guatemala recorded 2,616 homicides, according to data from the National Civil Police, which represents a decrease of 0.6% compared to 2025.
Likewise, the day before the presidential decree was announced, the United States government announced the designation of three Guatemalan criminal gangs—Los Lorenzana, Los Huistas and Los Mendoza—as "foreign terrorist organizations" (FTO).
"These three groups, based in Guatemala, maintain close ties with Mexican cartels, collaborating in the trafficking and export of illicit drugs to finance terrorism and organized crime," the State Department said in a statement.
President Arévalo has welcomed Washington's decision and considered it as proof of bilateral "collaboration" on security matters.
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The declaration entails the blocking of all assets and funds of the members of the groups, and also prohibits US citizens and companies from carrying out any transaction, contribution or providing funds, goods or services, the Treasury Department stated in its statement.
The US decision comes weeks after 14 US prosecutors visited the Central American country to share information on cases related to organized crime.
For its part, the state of siege imposed on Saturday night affects Zacapa, located about 150 kilometers east of Guatemala City and considered one of the areas where Los Lorenzana have historically operated.
Meanwhile, the department of Izabal, located about 300 kilometers northeast of the capital, on the Caribbean coast, is considered Los Mendoza territory, according to InSight Crime, a media outlet specialized in organized crime.
Next, we will tell you who the three groups sanctioned by the US are.
Image source, JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images
The Lorenzana: more than a band
The Lorenanzas and the Mendozas share a common origin: their leaders are members of the same family.
"The Lorenzanas were a traditional family dedicated to smuggling that, over time, became involved in the lucrative drug trafficking business," reads an InSight Crime report.
The group's founder, Waldemar Lorenzana Lima, established links with the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel more than two decades ago and, together with his sons Eliu and Waldemar, led the organization with an iron fist until 2011, when he was arrested in Guatemala.
Three years later he was extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 23 years in prison after reaching a plea deal and testifying against his former partners and even his children.
The one nicknamed "The Patriarch" died in prison in 2021.
During his trial, the founder of Los Lorenzana admitted "to having been a member of an international organization dedicated to drug trafficking that received, cataloged and stored quantities of cocaine from Colombia on its properties in Guatemala, for eventual importation to Mexico and the United States."
Although experts consider that the group is diminished, the capture of its founder and his offspring has not meant its end. Nephews and even grandchildren of Waldemar Lorenzana have continued his activities.
image copyrightDaniele Volpe for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Today, Guatemalan authorities have among their most wanted list Haroldo Waldemar Lorenzana Terraza, alias "Haroldito", grandson of "El Patriarca".
They consider him the new leader of the clan and the US offers a reward of 5 million dollars for him.
"The Lorenzana, one of the most powerful drug trafficking clans in Guatemala, is responsible for numerous acts of violence against civilians, government officials and Guatemalan military forces," the State Department said to explain its decision to include it on its blacklist of terrorist organizations.
Until 2011, they were believed responsible for between 20 and 25 homicides a year, that is, less than 1% of the total registered in the country, InSight Crime reported.
Although the department of Zacapa is considered their fiefdom, over the years they have expanded to other regions such as Chiquimula, as well as Izabal and Verapaz.
U.S. prosecutors also suspect the group has ties to drug trafficking networks operating in Honduras and Venezuela.
Image source, Johan ORDONEZ / AFP via Getty Images
The Mendozas: the oldest
The Mendozas are another family-run criminal group. In this case, by Haroldo, Walter Obdulio, Milton Oswaldo and Edwin Alfredo Mendoza Matta.
The US Treasury Department calls them one of the "oldest—it was founded in the 1980s—and most powerful criminal organizations in Guatemala."
"Former President Álvaro Colom once said that Los Mendoza were one of those 'narcos that no one touches,'" InSight Crime recalled, revealing the alleged links between the group and political sectors of the Central American country.
"This family organization operates as a key intermediary in transportation and logistics for the Sinaloa Cartel, facilitating drug trafficking operations in Guatemala and Honduras," added the office led by Scott Bessent.
"The Mendozas support the Sinaloa Cartel's drug trafficking network by facilitating access to border crossings, clandestine landing strips, warehouses and local protection networks in the Guatemalan departments of San Marcos, Huehuetenango and Petén," he concluded.
But they have not only gotten rich by providing logistical support to Mexican drug traffickers.
"The Mendozas participate in contract killings and money laundering, and have accumulated significant economic interests through land dispossession, ranching, agricultural businesses, and real estate investments," the Treasury Department denounced.
As happened with the Lorenzanas, part of the Mendoza leadership has ended up behind bars in recent years, although they have had better luck. Thus, Haroldo and Walter Obdulio Mendoza Matta were not extradited and are free after having served sentences in Guatemala.
However, its business has been hit by the incursion of rival groups such as Mexico's Los Zetas into its territories, InSight Crime reported.
Image source, EDWIN BERCIAN/AFP via Getty Images
The Huistas: the most autonomous
The third group sanctioned are the Huistas, who since the late 1990s have been involved in large-scale drug trafficking through the mountainous Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango, which borders the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Like the Lorenzanas and the Mendozas, they established alliances with Mexican cartels—in this case, with the Sinaloa and the Gulf—but, over time, they built their own logistics networks, which has allowed them to gain autonomy, InSight Crime reported.
"Los Huistas constitutes a crucial link in the drug trafficking supply chain from South America, through Mexico, to the United States," admitted the US Treasury.
The arrests of two of its leaders, Aler Baldomero Samayoa Recinos, alias "Chicharra", and Eugenio Darío Molina López, alias "Don Darío", the latter captured this year in California (USA), do not seem to have made a dent in the organization's operations.
In recent years, the penetration of this group in Guatemalan politics has also become clear.
In 2017, Freddy Arnoldo Salazar Flores, member of the Central American Parliament for Guatemala and son-in-law of "Chicharra", was accused by the US justice system of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine. He voluntarily surrendered to US authorities in May 2025 and appeared in federal court, but the judicial process has not yet concluded with a ruling.
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