Territorial dispute in Guatemalan village turns deadly

A dozen people were slain in a Guatemalan village that has been involved in a years-long territorial dispute with a nearby town, police said.

The National Civil Police said on Saturday that the 12 dead included men, women and children, but gave no details on what happened in the village of Chiquix, in western Guatemala near the Mexico border.

A local police officer was killed and two more were wounded earlier in the week in the same area, and violence has occurred there before.

Guatemala's National Police said in a statement that it was engaging leaders of the two communities in efforts to prevent future violence.

Negotiations between the two sides have so far yielded few results.

The office of the Human Rights Ombudsman also recommended beefing up the police presence in the area.

Century-long dispute

Residents of Chiquix have quarreled over water and land access with inhabitants of the town of Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan. 

The conflict between the two municipalities inhabited by Indigenous Mayans dates back a century, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said in May last year, shortly after an escalation of violence in the area led him to decree a state of siege.  

The differences "have persisted for more than 100 years" and have "claimed the lives of many, many villagers involved in the supposed defense of their lands", Giammattei said at the time, when he also set up a dialogue to try to resolve the conflict. 

Last August, Interior Minister Gendri Reyes made a commitment to the inhabitants of the area to reinforce police presence in both municipalities to prevent conflict. 

Law enforcement "reject this type of inhumane, irrational acts," the police said after the new events.