Guatemalan former prosecutor shot dead at sports centre

Guatemalan police say they arrested two men in connection with the killing of Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa.

Forensic prosecutors from Guatemala's Public Ministry collect evidence around the body of lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa at the Campo Marte sports complex in Guatemala City on October 17, 2026 [AFP]

Lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa, known for his high-profile cases against powerful businessmen in Guatemala, has died after being shot by two men during a visit to a sports centre.

The attack on Saturday at the Campo Marte sports complex in Guatemala City resulted in the deaths of Foppa and another man, Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

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Shortly after, the Guatemalan police said they arrested two men and seized a carbine-style firearm and a motorcycle in connection with the case.

Suspects of lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa’s murder in police custody, Guatemala City, October 17, 2026 [Mariano Macz/EPA]

Foppa was a 43-year-old former prosecutor and anticorruption lawyer who denounced wrongdoing by some of Guatemala’s most powerful politicians, business leaders and companies, and in 2023 briefly joined the defence team of a prominent journalist.

President Bernardo Arevalo condemned the attack. “I strongly condemn the cowardly murder of former prosecutor Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa,” he wrote on his official X account. “Both the direct perpetrators and those who ordered the crime must face the full weight of the law.”

Arevalo said he has instructed his government to coordinate with the relevant authorities to solve the crime.

“Those who believe that terror can intimidate the people of Guatemala and the government I lead are mistaken. In honour of Foppa, in honour of our homeland, in honour of justice.”

Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa, before entering a court hearing on charges of illicit association and conspiracy, in Guatemala City [File: Sandra Sebastian/Reuters]

Foppa headed the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office before he took charge of Guatemala’s tax authority (SAT) from 2016 to 2018, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures and recover unpaid taxes.

In 2025, Foppa alleged a connection between the Barrio 18 gang and the National Unity of Hope party, as well as links between criminal gangs and the judicial system. In 2023, he briefly joined the defence team of Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, who has become an international symbol of resistance to the criminalisation of journalism and the erosion of judicial independence in Central America.

Foppa had to leave the Zamora case after being accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of obstructing the proceedings and destroying or concealing information, a charge he denied but ultimately accepted as part of a plea agreement, saying he did not believe he would receive a fair trial.

危地马拉警方称，他们逮捕了两名与胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛扎诺·福帕被杀案有关的男子。

2026年10月17日，危地马拉公共检察院的法医检察官在危地马拉城坎波马尔特体育中心，在律师胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛扎诺·福帕的遗体周围收集证据。[法新社]

以代理危地马拉权贵商人的高调案件而闻名的律师胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛扎诺·福帕在参观一家体育中心时被两名男子枪击身亡。

据公共检察官办公室称，周六在危地马拉城 Campo Marte 体育中心发生的袭击事件导致 Foppa 和另一名男子 Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro 死亡。

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不久之后，危地马拉警方表示，他们逮捕了两名男子，并缴获了一支卡宾枪和一辆摩托车，这些都与此案有关。

2026年10月17日，危地马拉城，律师胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛扎诺·福帕谋杀案嫌疑人在警方拘留期间。[Mariano Macz/EPA]

福帕是一位 43 岁的前检察官和反腐败律师，他曾谴责危地马拉一些最有权势的政治家、商业领袖和公司的不当行为，并在 2023 年短暂加入了一位著名记者的辩护团队。

总统贝尔纳多·阿雷瓦洛谴责了这起袭击事件。他在其官方推特账号上写道：“我强烈谴责对前检察官胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛尔扎诺·福帕的卑鄙谋杀。直接行凶者和幕后指使者都必须受到法律的严惩。”

阿雷瓦洛表示，他已指示政府与相关部门协调，侦破这起案件。

“那些认为恐怖主义可以恐吓危地马拉人民和我领导的政府的人大错特错。为了纪念福帕，为了我们的祖国，为了正义。”

胡安·弗朗西斯科·索洛扎诺·福帕在危地马拉城出庭受审，他被指控非法结社和共谋。[图片：桑德拉·塞巴斯蒂安/路透社]

福帕在 2016 年至 2018 年担任危地马拉税务局 (SAT) 局长之前，曾担任公共检察官办公室刑事调查局局长。在任期间，他帮助起诉了数十名危地马拉商界大佬，并追回了未缴税款。

2025年，福帕声称巴里奥18帮派与希望民族团结党有关联，并指出犯罪团伙与司法系统存在联系。2023年，他曾短暂加入危地马拉记者何塞·鲁本·萨莫拉的辩护团队。萨莫拉已成为国际上反对新闻业刑事化和中美洲司法独立性遭到侵蚀的象征人物。

福帕因被检察官办公室指控妨碍诉讼程序和销毁或隐瞒信息而不得不退出萨莫拉案，他否认了这一指控，但最终作为认罪协议的一部分接受了指控，称他不相信自己会得到公正的审判。