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Guatemala mayor arrested over mudslide that killed 280

A soldier stands guard at the site where a landslide took place in the village of El Cambray II, in Santa Catarina Pinula municipality, some 15 km east of Guatemala City, on October 6, 2015

A mayor of a Guatemalan village was arrested Thursday for allegedly ignoring warnings ahead of a mudslide that engulfed a community in 2015, killing 280 people. Victor Gonzalo Alvarizaes Monterroso, mayor of the village of Santa Catarina Pinula, to the west of the capital Guatemala City, was arrested on a charge of negligent homicide, a spokeswoman for the state prosecutor's office told reporters. The mudslide occurred on October 1 last year. A section of earth detached and covered a district of the village called El Cambray II. The official toll was 280 killed and another 70 missing. Investigators say Alvarizaes was informed of the risk of such a disaster happening, along with recommendations that El Cambray II be moved. A former mayor of the community, Antonio Coro, was arrested in January on the same charge.