(APG/IFEX) – Rubén Alfonso Ramírez, President of APG, has strongly condemned a 17 January 1999 attack against the daily “La Hora”. According to Luis Marroquín Godoy, manager of “La Hora”, “assailants” broke into the office of the late Oscar Marroquín Rojas, ex-editor of the evening newspaper, from which they removed “only personal documents, leaving behind […]
(APG/IFEX) – Rubén Alfonso Ramírez, President of APG, has strongly condemned
a 17 January 1999 attack against the daily “La Hora”. According to Luis
Marroquín Godoy, manager of “La Hora”, “assailants” broke into the office of
the late Oscar Marroquín Rojas, ex-editor of the evening newspaper, from
which they removed “only personal documents, leaving behind office
equipment, which would be the normal objective of common criminals.”
Ramírez announced that on 18 January the APG’s executive committee was to
meet in order to discuss measures to counteract attempts to limit freedom of
expression and to protect public communication. Furthermore, he affirmed
that all journalists repudiate acts of intimidation and maintain a fighting
spirit in favour of freedom of the press. Ramírez emphasised that the
alleged break and enter at “La Hora” makes for a bad start to the year for
journalists and represents an underhanded way to intimidate the national
press.
One of the APG’s objectives is to secure the unanimous rejection by all
press outlets, journalists, publishers and media owners of this type of
negative message, which constitutes an outrage against the right to inform
and be informed.
On 19 January, the Association of Families of Detained/Disappeared People of
Guatemala (la Asociacion de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos de
Guatemala, FAMDEGUA), also condemned the robbery at “La Hora”. In a press
release, FAMDEGUA rejected the notion that what happened at “La Hora” was
the action of common criminals, and the organisation called on authorities
to launch an
exhaustive investigation which would put an end to the obstacles in the path
of the free exercise of journalism.
FAMDEGUA identified “La Hora” as one of the media outlets which had
identified with the pain of the families of the thousands of detained and
disappeared people. They also stated that “La Hora” had opened its pages to
the social movement in order to present its condemnation and grievances.
FAMDEGUA also offered its solidarity with the newspaper’s editor and
journalists, urging them to continue the journalistic battle toward the
construction of a country where the basic rights of all citizens are
respected.
