'Narco-quinceañera': The US exposes a $2.5 million party for the daughter of a Guatemalan mayor married to a convicted drug trafficker
"Guatemalans deserve safe streets and honest officials. But in the meantime, Zacapa Mayor Xiomara Ovalle is hosting a lavish 'narco-quinceañera' worth millions," the U.S. Embassy said on X.
Reference image from VOZ
The United States on Friday called the party celebrating the 15th birthday of a Guatemalan mayor's daughter a "narco-quinceañera." The mayor is a relative of the leader of one of the country's most powerful cartels and the wife of a confessed drug trafficker.
Dressed in a luxurious gown in front of more than 1,000 guests at a hacienda, the quinceañera was transported in a horse-drawn carriage. The event also featured a variety of food, national artists, and a waltz performed by a symphonic band.
"Guatemalans deserve safe streets and honest officials. But in the meantime, the mayor of Zacapa, Xiomara Ovalle, is throwing a lavish 'narco-quinceañera' worth millions," the U.S. Embassy said on X. "Looking ahead to the 2027 elections, oversight must extend to all levels: presidential, legislative, and municipal. Guatemalans, especially the people of Zacapa, have the right to speak out and demand transparency. We must all have ZERO TOLERANCE for narco-politicians!"
The party, which cost more than $2.5 million according to local media, took place last Saturday and went viral after videos posted by "influencers" hired by the family circulated on social media.
Ovalle is mayor of the city of Zacapa, about 105 miles east of the capital, a territory controlled by the Lorenzana family cartel, linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
In another post on the same social media platform, the embassy noted that Sergio Cifuentes, the mayor's husband, was convicted in the United States of drug trafficking. He was released in 2024 and returned to the country that same year.
The embassy also stated that she is the sister-in-law of Haroldo Lorenzana, for whom the United States is offering a $5 million reward, who is the grandson of a drug trafficker of the same name who died in 2021 in the United States while serving a prison sentence.
With information from AFP
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