A group of demonstrators doused gasoline and set a Guatemalan army soldier on fire in the southwestern province of Retalhuleu.

According to a report from Fox News Latino, the soldier, identified as Julio Ortiz Ordoñez, suffered burns over 40 percent of his body and went into a state of shock. Hugo Rodriguez, a spokesman for the institution, said that doctors expect the soldier's condition to stabilize in the coming hours.

Rodriguez said that the attack occurred while some 150 people belonging to a "mototaxi association" were protesting against the extortions they suffer on a daily basis, Fox News Latino reported. Ortiz, 27, was off duty at the time and had been observing the demonstration when the assailants poured gasoline over him and set him on fire.

Rodriguez added that the people confused Ortiz for someone else, hence the attack. The spokesman said that it was an "isolated" incident, but that the army urges its workforce to distance themselves from similar demonstrations in the future to avoid attacks of aggression, the news outlet noted. At present, the Central American country's army has a force of 22,500 soldiers.

Ortiz, a member of the army's Southern Air Command for three years, was transferred from the hospital in Retalhuleu to the Military Medical Center located in Guatemala City, Fox News Latino further reported.

Guatemala, along with Honduras and El Salvador, is "considered to be the most violent non-war zone" in the world, according to a separate report from Fox News Latino. According to figures issued recently by the state's National Institute of Forensic Sciences, there were 2,343 murders reported in Guatemala between January and May. In 2014, there was an average of 15.5 homicides per day.

In October, citizens in a town in western Guatemala beat and burned their mayor to death in an apparent act of vengeance over political rivalries.

Guatemala Hospitals in Disastrous State

Guatemala's major government corruption scandals have a huge impact on the country's health care system. Mariano Rayo, Guatemala's minister of health and social welfare, blamed the deteriorating system on political corruption and the mismanagement of public funds, teleSur reported.

"In the Western Regional Hospitals we are in an absolute disaster," said the minister after paying a visit to the southwestern department of Quetzaltenango, as reported by teleSur. "We agree that the situation is dramatic. The lack of supplies is an undeniable reality and that limits the possibilities of providing adequate services to patients and dignified way."

Rayo assessed that the hospitals in the area are in a "pathetic" condition, with the departments of intermediate care, surgery, newborns, intensive neonatal care, intensive care for adults, and hemodialysis suffering the worst, the news outlet listed.