More Holdups against Tourists Reported in Guatemala

A gang of machete-blandishing criminals assaulted a group of 18 U.S. tourists on the road to the Tikal National Park in the jungle-covered department of Peten, some 300 miles north of the Guatemalan capital.

The American travelers were forced to hand over their valuable belongings and even though none of them was hurt, they decided to drive on with the protection escort furnished by the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT).

INGUAT President Alejandro Sinibaldi told members of the press that the U.S. citizens –whose names and places of residence were not immediately disclosed- have left from a hotel in Flores some 280 miles north of the nation’s capital to visit Tikal, a major Mayan archeological site. The Americans were mugged when their bus made a regular scheduled stop on its way to Tikal.