GUATEMALA CITY: The Central American state of Guatemala was placed under a state of emergency today [Jan 17] following an outbreak of violence in which five people, including the head of the US Military Mission to Guatemala, were shot dead.

President Julio Cesar Mendez met his Cabinet last night and signed a decree setting up a state of emergency for 30 days.

The decree broadcast over radio and television, suspends the nation’s constitutional guarantees and also cancels normal functioning of political parties, allows for house searches without warrant, and allows for detention of persons suspected of subversive activities without trial.

It imposes Press censorship, censorship of correspondents, suspends movements across national frontiers and forbids civil meetings.

One of the assailants trying to assassinate the Director of Police last night was killed bringing the total of five violent deaths in one day, the Guatemalan Army reported.

Unidentified gunmen shot two members of the American Military Mission in Guatemala and wounded two others in an attack near the capital on Tuesday.

Col John Webber, Commander of the American Military Consultative Group in Guatemala, and Lt. Cmdr Ernest Monro were machine-gunned to death in their car as they drove through the quarter near La Aurora International Airport. Lt. Cmdr Monro was a member of the Consultative Group in charge of training Guatemalan military personnel.

Washington officials said this was the first terrorist attack ever directed against US personnel in Guatemala.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018