Guatemala's anti-corruption fighters are risking their lives

Murder of lawyer Guatemala's corruption fighters risk their lives As of: November 8, 2026 • 8:39 a.m

Guatemala's President Arévalo is trying to fight corruption in the country. But the resistance from influential circles is massive. The murder of one of the country's best-known lawyers shows how determined they are.

Francisco Solórzano Foppa had just arrived at the stadium. He was coaching a soccer team and wanted to discuss the tactics for the game with the players. His security guards were standing about 30 meters away. Then four gunmen in sports jerseys opened fire. More than 50 bullet casings were found at the scene.

It was a painful day, but one that emphatically confirmed how important it is to fight directly against narco-politics - i.e. the influence of criminal networks from the drug trade on the state and politics -, criminal organizations and violence, said the Guatemalan reformer and Social Democratic President Bernardo Arévalo in a speech afterwards.

For Guatemala, the murder is more than a crime. Around 30 years after the end of the civil war, it is a signal. German human rights lawyer Michael Mörth, who lives in Guatemala, sees a clear message. The past is not over.

"This feeling of repression, of war, of extinction, of genocide, that is still there. And especially for those who are active, the message is: The past is alive, and we can act exactly as we acted before."

Solórzano Foppa was murdered in the stadium by four gunmen.

As a public prosecutor and head of the tax authority, Solórzano Foppa took on powerful interests. As a lawyer, he also defended the journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, who will be awarded the Hermann Kesten Prize from the German PEN at the end of November. With his newspaper El Periódico, Zamora exposed corruption in the highest political circles. Then he was indicted himself and spent more than two years in prison, including on charges of money laundering. The public prosecutor was never able to present any evidence. Today he is under house arrest.

Foppa was also prosecuted and imprisoned in connection with Zamora's defense. "He was very courageous. He was a strong personality, inspiring. He ended up in prison because of my case. He never gave up, always showed his face and spoke openly," emphasizes Zamora.

The case against Zamora was carried out by the then Attorney General María Consuelo Porras. Human rights organizations believe they are politically motivated. The USA and the EU have imposed sanctions on Porras.

Solórzano Foppa knew that he had powerful opponents - he too had already been taken into custody for his fight against corruption.

A study by the Reuters Institute also shows how critics are intimidated. It documents a coordinated hate campaign against Zamora on X. A small group of users specifically attempts to discredit and intimidate Zamora and his family.

A few days before Foppa's death they posted a picture of him. Below it are the words: "Rumbo a la playita" - in German "on the way to the beach". This is a type of code from criminal circles that is considered a death threat.

The journalist reports that he and his family were also threatened with this formulation: "They want to create a culture of fear." But it is reassuring that the press continues to work, as does civil society. Young people would continue to talk about it very openly on social networks and in the media.

Many citizens took part in the funeral ceremonies in Guatemala City, demonstrating their desire for corruption to finally be defeated.

Mörth sees behind these developments the so-called “Pact of the Corrupt,” a network of politics, justice, business, the military and organized crime that has had influence on the state for decades.

President Arévalo is trying to push back these structures. When the term of office of Attorney General Porras, who was suspected of corruption, ended in May, the president appointed Gabriel Estuardo García Luna, a successor who appeared to have integrity, said Mörth.

But the old networks are still powerful. For him, that is the real danger: "They have lost their tools for intimidation and criminalization. And now the pact or parts of the pact are back to what they have always done: direct repression and murder."

President Arévalo still has a few months left in the fight against corruption. According to the constitution, he cannot be re-elected.

It is not yet clear who the masterminds behind Foppa's murder are. Spanish human rights expert Carlos Martín Beristain, who recently presented a report on the exile of Guatemalan human rights activists, sees a serious setback for the fight for justice.

So many people have been forced to leave the country in recent years. And now it has affected a person who had decided to stay in the country because he believed that the political conditions for this were now in place.

Eight months before the elections, Guatemala is faced with the question of whether Arévalo's reform project can counteract the old power structures.

This topic in the program: NDR Info | News | November 5, 2026 | 2:00 p.m