2022 in Guatemala

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← 2021 2020 2019 2022 in Guatemala → 2023 2024 2025
Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2022 Timeline of Guatemalan history

See also: 2022 in Central America and 2022 in the Caribbean

The following lists events in the year 2022 in Guatemala .

Incumbents

• President: Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei Falla (since 2020)
• Vice-President: César Guillermo Castillo Reyes (since 2020)

Events

Further information: Public holidays in Guatemala

Ongoing – COVID-19 pandemic in Guatemala

January

• A court sentences five former paramilitary members to 30 years for the rapes and enslavement of 36 Mayan women between 1981 and 1985. ^[1]

February

• 16 February – 2022 Guatemala earthquake: A magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes southern Guatemala, causing light damage, landslides, three deaths from heart attacks, and injuring two people. ^[2]

March

• 8 March –
  • Journalist Orlando Villanueva is killed in Puerto Barrios. ^[1]
  • Congress passes the Law for the Protection of Life and the Family, raising abortion penalties to 25 years, banning same-sex marriage, and restricting teaching on sexual diversity. ^[3]

May

• 16 May – President Alejandro Giammattei reappoints Consuelo Porras as Attorney General amid a criticized selection process. On the same day, the United States sanctions her over accusations of involvement in significant corruption. ^{[1] [4]}

June

• 25 June – Guatemala Pride returns after two years, drawing over 10,000 participants and featuring embassy delegations. ^[5]
• 29 June – Guatemala’s under-20 football team qualifies for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup after defeating Mexico on penalties in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship. ^[6]

July

• 9 July – Guatemala puts 66 of its municipalities on alert due to a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. ^[7]
• 30 July –
  • Armed civilians attack a checkpoint during President Giammattei’s visit to La Laguna, Huehuetenango; one person is injured, four arrested, the president is unharmed, and the official account is questioned. ^[8]
  • Journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder of El Periódico , is arrested on allegations of money laundering and blackmail; he begins a hunger strike in protest. ^[9]

August

• 11 August – Demonstrators protest alleged government corruption outside Guatemala’s National Palace of Culture. ^[1]
• 30 August – Foreign Minister Mario Búcaro meets with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, affirming that Guatemala will "always support" Taiwan. China criticizes the visit as political manipulation. ^[10]

September

• A judge acquits journalist Carlos Choc, after he was previously accused of incitement related to a 2021 Indigenous protest. ^[1]

November

• 16 November – Prosecutors accuse President-elect Bernardo Arévalo and Vice President-elect Karin Herrera of backing university protests, and request to strip their political immunity. ^[11]
• A judge overseeing a forced disappearance case resigns and leaves the country. UDEFEGUA then reports the government failed to implement a IACHR ruling to protect human rights defenders. ^[12]

December

• 7 December – Former President Otto Pérez Molina and ex-Vice President Roxana Baldetti are sentenced to 16 years in prison for illicit association and customs fraud in the La Línea corruption case. ^[13]

Deaths

• January 6 – Rómulo Méndez, 83, football referee ^[14]
• February 17 – Gerardo Humberto Flores Reyes, 96, Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of Verapaz (1971–2001) ^[15]
• February 24 – Roberto Carpio, 91, politician, vice president (1986–1991) ^[16]
• March 14 – José Ramiro Pellecer Samayoa, 92, Roman Catholic prelate, auxiliary bishop of Guatemala (1967–2010) ^[17]

See also

• COVID-19 pandemic in North America
• 2020s
• 2022 Atlantic hurricane season
• 2020s in political history

References

1. Human Rights Watch (2023-01-12), "Guatemala: Events of 2022", Human Rights Watch, retrieved 2025-08-06
2. "Sismo de 6.2 grados deja a tres muertos en Guatemala". Primera Hora (in Spanish). 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
3. Menchu, Sofia (2022-03-09). "Guatemala law punishes abortion with prison for up to 25 years". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
4. "U.S. sanctions Guatemala's attorney general over accusations of corruption". Reuters. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
5. "Pride 2022: una fiesta de resistencia a la existencia diversa". No-Ficción (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-06-28. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
6. "Dominican Republic make history, Moreno a hero for Guatemala". Concacaf. 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
7. "Guatemala aumenta a 66 sus municipios en alerta roja por la covid-19". Infobae (in European Spanish). 9 July 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
8. Solórzano, Andrea (2022-07-31). "Gobierno manipula, en momento álgido, con "atentado"". La Hora (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-08-06.
9. Menchu, Sofia (2022-07-30). "Guatemala detains renowned journalist on money laundering, blackmail allegations". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
10. Blanchard, Ben; Baptista, Eduardo; Blanchard, Ben (2022-08-30). "Guatemala pledges support for Taiwan, China accuses island of 'political manipulation'". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
11. Abbott, Jeff. "What's behind efforts to strip Guatemala's president-elect of his immunity?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
12. "Guatemala: Freedom in the World 2023 Country Report". Freedom House. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
13. Menchu, Sofia (2022-12-08). "Guatemala court sentences ex-President Perez, ex-VP in graft case". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
14. "Fallece Rómulo Méndez el árbitro guatemalteco que estuvo en los mundiales de 1982 y 1986" (in Spanish). 6 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
15. "Fallece Monseñor Gerardo Flores, obispo emérito de La Verapaz". www.soy502.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-14.
16. "Former Vice President of Guatemala Roberto Carpio Nicolle dies at 92 – Prensa Libre - D1SoftballNews.com". 2022-02-25. Archived from the original on 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
17. "Bishop José Ramiro Pellecer Samayoa [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 2022-09-14.

External links

Media related to 2022 in Guatemala at Wikimedia Commons

• 13 young Guatemalans who left for a better future were slain in Mexico, families say (by Kate Linthicum & Jeff Abbott, January 30, 2021, Los Angeles Times