Guatemala City/Livingston. After the violent death of indigenous singer Jorge Sebastian Pop Chocoj, there are growing indications that the perpetrator was associated with youth criminal gangs. The 18-year-old, whose stage name is Farruko Pop, had been missing since May 20. Five days later, police discovered his body during a raid in the poor neighborhood of El Limón, in Zone 18 of the capital Guatemala.
A second body was discovered the day before in a forest about seven kilometers from the San Rafael Los Valdos district, which is also in Zone 18. According to authorities, it is the driver of the motorcycle taxi who drove Pop in area 18 on the day of his disappearance.
The young artist went to the capital and took the motorcycle taxi in question, friends and relatives confirmed to the press. They didn’t hear from him again after that.
Zone 18, north of Guatemala City, is one of the most dangerous zones. Criminal gangs are active there with protection rackets and fighting among themselves. Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told a news conference that it was “a logical conclusion that the murder was committed in Ward 18, a serious crime like this should come from members of the gangs,” the minister said at a press conference in May. 27.
Investigators believe the house where Pop’s body was found belongs to the gang in question. An 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old woman were arrested, the Interior Minister said. However, uncertainties remain about the motivations of the alleged perpetrators.
Lawyer Fransisco Foppa put forward a theory about the connection between the crime. In one even before the official confirmation of Pop’s death https://twitter.com/foppaguate/status/1794474552090607727 In the video, he accuses President Bernardo Arévalo’s opponent, Sandra Torres, of the UNE party, of being involved in the assassination. Their niece married the leader of the gang in question, Aldo Ochoa Mejía, and people close to the UNE visited the incarcerated gang members in prison late last year. At the time, plans to assassinate Arevalo had become public. Pop’s assassination and other killings were part of a “destabilization plan against Arévalo, whose inauguration the Pact of the Taken wanted to prevent,” Foppa said.
The lawyer, like many other lawyers, has been the subject of investigations in recent years and temporarily incarcerated.
Torres https://twitter.com/SandraTorresGUA/status/1794515667950907551 the allegations come back. It was “unbelievable that a drug addict and an alcoholic would spread such conspiracy theories,” the politician said.
On May 27, units of the National Civil Police and the Ministry of the Interior carried out a large-scale search in Fraijanes II prison. According to government figures, 900 police officers were involved. The press speaks of four alleged gang leaders, including Mejía, as being at the center of the measure.
The action aims to “regain control of prisons that has been ceded and negotiated with inmates for decades.” We must reverse the disaster we inherited with safe facilities, technology and determination.” https://twitter.com/FJimenezmingob/status/1795090473591149030 Jiménez on X
Guatemala is considered a very dangerous country, even though the murder rate has fallen. There were 6,498 killings in 2009, making it the most violent year since the end of the civil war (1960-1996). In 2023, there were 2,942 murders. The homicide rate fell from 45.57 victims per 100,000 inhabitants to 16.7. This means that Guatemala remains the most dangerous country in Central America after Honduras.
Pop was buried with great sympathy last week in his home community of Chacalte, Livingston County. The young man, from a poor background, went to Cobán in 2022 to get closer to his dream of a career as a singer. He has directed music videos and has been able to perform with international artists.
Journalists and fellow artists pointed out in the days following his death that the indigenous singer had to repeatedly fight against widespread racism and classism in the country.
