Eswin Cayen, Candidate for Mayor of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Shot in Attack
Guatemalan security forces reported this Wednesday (01.25.2023) that Eswin Cayen, candidate for mayor of the municipality of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, was shot in an attack. Cayen, sixty-three, was shot when he was at the opposition political party Semilla headquarters in the Escuintla department, located 100 kilometers south of Guatemala City.
According to the National Civil Police (PNC), Samuel Pérez, a representative from the Semilla party, told EFE news agency that “their candidate is stable and for the moment there are several hypotheses about the motivations for the attack.” The PNC also said that the political party headquarters will remain closed and an investigation has been launched to identify the person responsible for the attack.
Escuintla, the town where the politician was attacked, registered an average of 32 homicides per month during the year 2022, according to data from the study center Diálogos.
Cayen is seeking to run for mayor of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in Guatemala’s general elections on June 25. The elections will decide on 340 municipal mayors, 160 deputies to Congress, 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) and judges will elect their new presidential binomial.
