Maya: Good morning, and welcome to Guatemala News for Friday, October second. I'm Maya.
Devon: And I'm Devon. Maya, five things today, starting with the money news: that fuel discount isn't just on paper anymore.
Maya: Right. The emergency fuel tax exemption took effect yesterday, and now the stations are actually lowering prices. The Diario de Centro América reports that gasolineras across the country have already adjusted, with savings of up to nine keht-SAH-lehs forty-one cents a gallon on super, nine keht-SAH-lehs ten cents on regular, and six keht-SAH-lehs thirty-four cents on diesel.
Devon: The tax authority, the S A T, has already updated its electronic invoicing system, so when you buy, your receipt should show both the value added tax and the fuel distribution tax at zero. The relief runs through December thirty-first.
Maya: President behr-NAHR-doh ah-REH-vah-loh posted that families are finally feeling the relief in their pockets. The catch, as he keeps saying, is that this is temporary. Global prices drove this mess, and when the decree expires at year's end, he'll have to decide what comes next.
Devon: Second story, a tense security day. The government says Tuesday's wave of violence in the capital area was not random. Six armed incidents in Guatemala City, VEE-yah noo-EH-vah, and ah-mah-tee-TLAHN, and officials say at least three look coordinated, possibly staged to force security forces to respond in several places at once.
Maya: Interior Minister MAHR-koh ahn-TOH-nyoh vee-YEH-dah says the pattern was atypical for ordinary crime. The hypothesis: three attacks were timed to generate alarm, while the other three tie to a turf fight between the BAH-ree-oh eighteen gang and the MAH-rah sahl-vah-TROO-chah over control of drug trafficking routes.
Devon: The government did show some results alongside the warning: seven hundred fifty gang members captured so far in twenty twenty-six, five hundred forty-four illegal surveillance cameras dismantled, and a raid in zone one that seized the equivalent of two million keht-SAH-lehs.
Maya: Third story, an update on wee-TEH. President ah-REH-vah-loh has now formally ordered Defense Minister HEHN-ree sah-EHNS to create the commission that will investigate the September twenty-seventh armed incident in wee-TEH, zah-KAH-pah, where eight people were killed by gunfire.
Devon: The commission's report goes to the Public Ministry, which runs its own criminal investigation into what the army did or didn't do. The president's line: Guatemala deserves to know clearly what happened, who is responsible, and justice must be done for the victims, with zero tolerance for impunity. One we're still watching.
Maya: Fourth, the weather, and this is the one we promised to watch. The national weather institute, een-see-voo-MEH, is warning about rain and thunderstorms through the weekend. Abundant moisture from the Pacific is feeding afternoon and evening downpours with lightning across much of the country, and locally severe storms are possible, especially in mountainous and volcanic areas.
Devon: Where it matters: the west, the bocacosta, the central highlands, and the eastern valleys are expected to see the heaviest accumulations. Officials warn about saturated soils, so the risks are landslides, flash floods, rivers running high, and lahares, those volcanic mudflows, near the volcanoes.
Maya: For Guatemala City today: mostly warm and partly sunny this morning, around seventy-five degrees, with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Saturday looks similar, and Sunday and Monday could be the wettest days of the stretch, with rain chances near ninety percent.
Devon: And the season totals are already heavy. The disaster agency, kohn-REHD, says one thousand six hundred eleven rain emergencies have been attended this season, with nearly two hundred thousand people affected, and forty emergencies in just the last twenty-four hours. If you need help, the emergency number is one one nine.
Maya: Finally, football, and it's match day. Guatemala plays soo-rih-NAH-meh this afternoon at four o'clock in pah-rah-mah-REE-boh, in the KOHN-kah-kahf Nations League, and it really is win or go home for the quarterfinal dream.
Devon: Tough assignment though. Guatemala must beat the group leaders, and they'll do it without two key pieces, OH-skahr sahn-TEES and Darwin Lom, who won't be in the lineup. A win pulls them level with Suriname on points. A draw barely helps, and a loss makes the math brutal.
Maya: And on the domestic front, the twelfth round of the Apertura kicks off tonight. The Antigua ahn-TEE-gwah club visits Marquense, mahr-KEHN-seh, tonight, while gwah-stah-TOH-yah hosts ah-ROH-rah on Sunday. Both Antigua and Guastatoya are chasing the top of the table.
Devon: That's your Guatemala News for today. Fuel relief at the pump, a coordinated violence warning in the capital, the wee-TEH commission ordered, a rainy weekend ahead, and a must win night for the national team.
Maya: Thanks for listening. Have a great Friday, and we'll see you Monday.