2023-08-11 22:34:43
They have not given any sign of life for two days… Four French tourists, including a six-year-old boy, disappeared in the jungle in northern Guatemala, near the border with Mexico and Belize.
The tourists, all members of the same family, were “last seen” on Wednesday in Tikal National Park, in the department of Petén, the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism said in a social media bulletin. .
The four tourists are two women aged 40 and 68, a 41-year-old man and a six-year-old boy, according to the same source. The alert was also sent to the diplomatic and consular corps accredited in Guatemala, according to the bulletin of the Guatemalan institute.
A site marked by several attacks
Tikal Park is the main Mayan archaeological site in Guatemala, located more than 500 km north of the capital. With its pyramids and imposing temples, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
In early January 2022, in the same park, a German tourist was found dead, two days after being reported missing in the region. The 53-year-old man had separated from the group with which he was visiting the site to explore the paths of the archaeological park before disappearing.
Also in the same park, in 2001, several tourists, including Americans and Europeans, were attacked by hooded and armed men who killed a ranger who was trying to defend them. A tourist from Honduras residing in the United States was notably raped.
A country plagued by crime and corruption
Guatemala, the most populous country in Central America with nearly 18 million inhabitants, is plagued by 36 years of civil war, organized crime, corruption and poverty.
The country is one of the most violent on the continent, with a homicide rate of 17.3 per 100,000 inhabitants at the end of 2022, according to the UN, half attributed to criminal gangs (maras) and transiting drug trafficking. through its territory.
Central America’s largest economy remains one of the most unequal countries on the American continent with a poverty rate of 59.3%, according to the World Bank. Guatemala received a peak of some 2.5 million foreign tourists in 2019, which left receipts of nearly US$1.3 billion.
In 2022, after the pandemic, 1.8 million visitors entered the country. The main countries of origin of tourists this year were El Salvador (39%), another small country in Central America, and the United States (24%), according to the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism.
#Guatemala #French #tourists #including #sixyearold #child #disappeared #jungle