Former Guatemalan Prosecutor Killed in Shooting at Sports Complex

Lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa, a former prosecutor known for taking on powerful business interests in Guatemala, was shot dead on Saturday while at the Campo Marte sports complex in Guatemala City. The attack also claimed the life of Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Police quickly apprehended two suspects, recovered a carbine‑style rifle and seized a motorcycle believed to be linked to the crime. Photographs taken by forensic prosecutors show investigators gathering evidence around Solorzano Foppa’s body at the sports centre on October 17, 2026.

Solorzano Foppa, 43, had previously headed the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and later led the country’s tax authority, the SAT, from 2016 to 2018. In those roles he helped bring charges against numerous influential Guatemalan businessmen and secured the recovery of unpaid taxes.

In 2025 he publicly alleged ties between the Barrio 18 gang and the National Unity of Hope party, and warned of connections between criminal gangs and the judiciary. Two years earlier he briefly joined the defence team of journalist José Rubén Zamora, a figure who has become an international symbol of resistance to attacks on press freedom in Central America. Solorzano Foppa left that case after the Public Prosecutor’s Office accused him of obstructing proceedings and concealing evidence. He denied the accusations but accepted a plea deal, saying he did not trust the judicial system to give him a fair trial.

President Bernardo Arevalo condemned the killing on his official X account, calling it a “cowardly murder” and insisting that both the shooters and anyone who ordered the crime must face the full force of the law. He added that anyone who believes terror can silence the Guatemalan people or his government is mistaken, and invoked Solorzano Foppa’s name as a symbol of justice for the nation.