Mexico City, October 6, 2026—Guatemalan authorities must swiftly and credibly investigate the killing of Maya journalist Evelio Lisandro López Sánchez and determine whether he was targeted for his work, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday.
López, the founder and administrator of the local digital news outlet Huehue es Noticias, was shot dead October 2 while on his way home in San Pedro Necta, a town in the northwestern Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango, according to news reports. A private vehicle intercepted the journalist and he was shot multiple times, according to Prensa Comunitaria.
“The killing of Evelio López, just days after he publicly said he was being threatened, shows how exposed Indigenous and community journalists in Guatemala are,” said Jose Zamora, CPJ’s Regional Director for the Americas. “Authorities must conduct a thorough, transparent investigation that considers his journalism as a possible motive, and they must account for what was done with the complaints he reportedly filed over the years.”
López, a member of the Maya Mam Indigenous people, faced constant threats over his reporting, according to a statement by the Association of Guatemalan Journalists (APG). He had publicly denounced a series of threats days before he was killed and had been threatened since 2021 by people with political ties. He had filed complaints with authorities that went nowhere, according to Prensa Comunitaria.
The Huehuetenango Press Association (APEHUE) filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office for the crime against López and asked authorities to check whether López had reported death threats before the attack, according to Infobae.
After the killing, residents set fire to the local police substation and a house where a suspect was allegedly staying, according to the local facebook page El Noticiero de los Huehuetecos. The man residents hold responsible for the death of López works for the municipal government, has not been publicly named, and had already turned himself in to the National Civil Police, according to Prensa Comunitaria.
A specialized criminal investigation team is working with the Public Prosecutor’s Office to identify and locate those responsible, according to a National Civil Police statement. A spokesperson for the office told CPJ via text message that investigators had processed the crime scene, that the investigation remained ongoing, and that no suspect had been identified.