23,439 cannabis plants destroyed near Las Cruces on New Year's Day
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police reported the first eradication of 2026 near Las Cruces, Petén, on 1 January. Officials said they destroyed and incinerated 23,439 cannabis plants, valued at about Q8,789,625.
Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC), through its Subdirectorate General for Anti-Narcotics Information Analysis (SGAIA), carried out the first cannabis eradication of 2026 near Las Cruces, Petén, on Thursday 1 January, according to the Ministry of the Interior’s later chronology.[1]Officers eradicated and incinerated 23,439 cannabis plants at the site.[2][1]Police assessed the crop at Q8,789,625.[2][1]
Prensa Libre reported the same count and valuation in an article dated 1 January; it placed the operation in areas adjoining Las Cruces and embedded a PNC post dated 2 January.[2]The Ministry’s 10 January roundup also records the first destruction on 1 January near the municipality and gives the same count and value.[1]Neither account provides an exact field address or cultivated area, and neither states whether anyone was arrested.[2][1]The Ministry’s article later lists separate eradications on other January dates; those are outside this report.[1]
The plant count and valuation are official police estimates, not independent measurements.[2][1]
Photos and video
Cannabis plants burn after being cut during an anti-narcotics eradication.Photo details
Prensa Libre is dated 1 January but embeds a PNC post dated 2 January; the Ministry's later chronology identifies the operation date as 1 January.
The Ministry's 10 January roundup includes several later eradications; this report covers only the first Las Cruces operation.
The reports locate the field near Las Cruces but give no exact address or area and do not say whether anyone was arrested; the map pin marks the district.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 8,820 mature cannabis plants near Ixcoch and Ixmucané in Las Cruces, Petén, on 25 October 2026. The agency valued the plants at Q4,410,000.
Guatemala's anti-narcotics police eradicated and burned 6,915 marijuana plants ready for harvest in the mountains of Momostenango, Totonicapán, on 23 October 2026. The National Civil Police valued the crop at 3,457,500 quetzales. No arrests were reported. The ministry named the site aldea Pamaría; other accounts of the same count call it Paraje Racaná.
Anti-narcotics police destroyed 19,420 cannabis plants near Momostenango, Totonicapán, and 15,143 in Ixmucané, Las Cruces, Petén, the Interior Ministry reported after weekend operations. Prosecutors supported the searches and eradication work. The operations applied the existing cultivation prohibition, which carries five to twenty years in prison plus a fine for unauthorised growing.
Guatemala's National Civil Police and Defense Ministry eradicated 7,920 cannabis plants on a 660-square-metre plot at Cooperativa Ixmucané, Las Cruces, on 3 October 2026. The police valued the crop at Q3,960,000.
