Weekly Update (Jan 19th – Jan 25th, 2026)

Guatemala: Ninth policeman dies after prison riots as emergency declared

A ninth police officer died from injuries linked to prison riots and attacks on officers in Guatemala; a further dozen officers were injured, and a state of emergency was declared. The numbers matter because they point to state authority being contested not only by gangs but inside the penal system itself — a recurring regional pattern with direct political costs.

Philippines: Arrest ordered over ₱92.8m flood-control misuse allegation

Former Philippine senator Bong Revilla surrendered after a court ordered his arrest over alleged misuse of ₱92.8m (US$1.6mn) in a flood-control project, with the Ombudsman pursuing graft and malversation charges. Corruption cases tied to disaster mitigation are uniquely toxic: they combine public anger over theft with the sense of physical vulnerability when infrastructure fails.

Czech Republic: Town-hall shooting leaves one dead and six injured

A gunman attacked a town hall in Chřibská, Czech Republic, killing one person and injuring six before killing himself. The incident fed a familiar European debate over security vulnerabilities in public buildings and the difficulty of preventing lone-actor attacks without over-securitising civic life.

Also worth watching: Sahel intrigue as Damiba detained then expelled

Togo arrested Burkina Faso’s former transitional president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and later expelled him after accusations of plotting. The episode is another data point in the region’s unstable civil-military politics — where exile, detention and counter-plot narratives often signal deeper fractures.