A high-stakes incident has roiled the small community of Indian Creek Village in Toledo District, Belize, after the settlement’s first founding alcalde was abducted by two unidentified assailants, triggering widespread unrest that has deepened long-simmering internal divisions. In an exclusive interview with News 5, village chairman Domingo Choc detailed the chaos that unfolded in the hours after the abduction was reported.
According to official police accounts, the alcalde told investigators he was taken captive by two men, bound, and held captive overnight before being released on the outer edges of the village in the early hours of Wednesday, April 15, 2026. While the abducted leader is confirmed to be alive, he remains under medical care for injuries sustained during his kidnapping.
News of his disappearance quickly sparked mass unrest among confused and angry residents, who turned their anger on two top local community leaders. Choc told reporters that his own home was quickly surrounded by a large crowd of Indian Creek residents, many armed with machetes and slingshots. The group pelted the residence with rocks, vandalized the property, and forced their way inside the building.
The crowd then marched the short distance to the home of Deputy Alcalde Manuel Ack, shouting threats against the local leader as they arrived. Ack recounted that the rioters chanted that the first alcalde had already been killed, and that he would be the next to die. The group threw sticks and stones at Ack’s property, destroying a stock of cacao beans that Ack’s wife had cured and prepared for upcoming market sale. Ack, who left his wife and seven young children inside the home during the chaos, told reporters he had planned to go outside to defend his family, but a neighbor warned him to remain indoors to avoid potential violence.
In the immediate aftermath of the unrest, local police launched an investigation into the abduction and subsequent rioting. Authorities identified Choc, Ack, and three other local men as persons of interest connected to the disappearance of the first alcalde, and detained all five for formal questioning. Both Choc and Ack have pushed back against the detention, saying they are being wrongfully treated as criminal suspects despite having no connection whatsoever to the abduction of the village’s first alcalde.
Two residential properties were confirmed damaged during the unrest, and the two community leaders were held in jail for a short period before being released. The incident has only widened an already toxic rift within the village that has festered for years over competing claims to land and disputes over local leadership, turning a tense situation into an openly dangerous one. A full on-air report of the incident is scheduled to air on News 5 Live at 6 p.m. local time.