Guatemalan military protects indigenous village after attack

Guatemalan armed forces are protecting 40 indigenous families that were forcibly evacuated from their homes by an armed group that torched their village, police said on Monday.

Several heavily armed people attacked the village of Balbatzul inhabited by the ethnically Mayan Q'eqchi's tribe early on Sunday, the police and public prosecutor said.

After several telephone appeals for help, police rushed to the village some 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the capital Guatemala City, and found that 40 families had been subjected to the attack, police spokesman Jorge Aguilar said.

The attackers evicted the families and then set fire to their homes, said Daniel Pascual, a leader from the Peasant Union Committee.

"A security perimeter is being maintained to ensure public order with the priority of protecting the integrity of the people that live there," the police said in a statement.

A score of officers have been stationed there.

The district public prosecutor has launched an investigation, Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei said.

"Violence between (Guatemalan) brothers is not acceptable," said Giammattei on Twitter, vowing to step up security for villagers.

The family that owns the land where the attack happened said it was linked to a conflict between two groups that have occupied the land since March 2019.

READ: Armed group attacks 40 indigenous families in Guatemala

Meanwhile, the Guatemalan Ombudsman denounced the murder of a Mayan indigenous leader in the Peten department that borders Mexico and Belize.

Carlos Macu Pop, also from the Q'eqchi's tribe, was killed on Sunday.

"There have been a series of violent acts this year, whose direct victims are community leaders involved in various battles to defend their lands and territories," said Jordan Rodas.

Guatemala's human rights protection body recorded 157 attacks against activists campaigning for land rights between January and April.

There were 462 attacks and 15 murders in 2019.

Indigenous people represent 42 per cent of Guatemala's 17 million population. They mostly live in poverty and are landless.

The government has recorded more than 1,000 conflicts over land.