Overview
- Inmates launched coordinated uprisings at the Renovación I, Fraijanes II and Preventivo prisons, taking 46 hostages including a prison psychologist.
- Police and army units retook the three facilities and freed all hostages, with authorities reporting no fatalities during the rescue operations.
- Suspected gang reprisals in the Guatemala City area left at least eight police officers dead and others wounded, with one alleged attacker killed and several suspects detained.
- President Bernardo Arévalo declared a 30-day state of emergency that suspends assembly rights and allows arrests and interrogations without prior judicial authorization, and schools were closed nationwide on Monday.
- Officials say the unrest followed a crackdown that removed contraband and privileges from jailed gang leaders and moved them to high-security cells, with Barrio 18 and MS-13 cited as key groups.