Lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa, a former prosecutor and a familiar figure in Guatemala's anti-corruption cases, was killed when two men opened fire on him while he was at a sports center. The attack took place on Saturday at the Campo Marte sports complex in Guatemala City.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, another man, Gustavo Adolfo Aguilar Gamarro, was also killed in the attack. Shortly afterward, Guatemalan police said they had arrested two men and seized a carbine-type rifle and a motorcycle linked to the case.
Foppa, 43, served in the prosecutor's office before leading Guatemala's tax authority (SAT) from 2016 to 2018. During that period he helped prosecute dozens of powerful business figures and recover unpaid taxes. He had earlier headed the criminal investigation division of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
As a lawyer, Foppa repeatedly spoke out against wrongdoing by some of Guatemala's most influential politicians, business leaders and companies. In 2025 he alleged links between the Barrio 18 gang and the National Unity of Hope party, and between criminal gangs and the judicial system. In 2023 he briefly joined the defense team of journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, widely seen as an international symbol of the fight against the criminalization of the press and the erosion of judicial independence in Central America. Foppa later had to leave the Zamora case after the Public Prosecutor's Office accused him of obstructing proceedings and destroying or concealing information; he denied the accusations but eventually accepted a plea deal, saying he did not believe he would receive a fair trial.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo condemned the attack. On his official X account he wrote: "I strongly condemn the vile murder of former prosecutor Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa. Both those who carried out the crime and those who ordered it must answer before the law."
Arevalo said he had instructed the government to work with the relevant authorities to clarify the case. He stressed: "Those who believe that terror can threaten the people of Guatemala and the government I lead are mistaken. For Foppa's honor, for the homeland, for justice."
