23,686 cannabis plants eradicated in Las Cruces, Petén
Joint Guatemalan forces eradicated 23,686 marijuana plants in a mountainous area near Las Cruces, Petén, on 13 September 2026, valuing the crop at about Q11.8 million. The operation by National Civil Police anti-narcotics officers with the Army and the Public Prosecutor's Office involved uprooting and burning the plants; no arrests were reported.
Joint Guatemalan security forces located and eradicated 23,686 marijuana plants
in the municipality of Las Cruces, Petén, on 13 September 2026.[1]Officers of
the National Civil Police, the Army and the Public Prosecutor’s Office carried
out the operation in mountainous areas, uprooting and burning the plants.[1]The anti-narcotics police unit SGAIA, in coordination with the Public
Prosecutor’s Office, located the crop in a mountainous area beside Las Cruces.[2]
Police valued the destroyed crop at more than 11 million quetzales (1.4 million
dollars).[1]The detailed police valuation was about Q11,843,000.[2]The
Interior Ministry said operations would continue in different parts of the
country, especially in Petén, where areas used for drug cultivation have
historically been identified.[1]
Anti-narcotics units said detecting and eradicating plantations is a key
strategy to weaken the finances of organisations involved in drug production and
distribution.[1]Petén is Guatemala’s largest department and shares an
extensive, porous border with Mexico, which the account describes as making it a
critical point for drug trafficking.[1]Analysts cited in the account said the
plants were not for local consumption but were to be processed and eventually
moved as derivatives to the United States.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No arrests, charges or identification of the growers were reported.
No field area or number of plots cleared was published, only the plant count.
The valuation is the police estimate of about Q11,843,000, with no independent valuation published.
The operation date is given as hoy on the 13 September 2026 publication, with no separate operation date published.
The Prensa Latina article also mentions a separate Alta Verapaz operation three days earlier with one soldier killed and two wounded, which is a different event left out here.
The article cites 2025 national eradication and seizure totals, which are separate statistics left out here.
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.
