(CERIGUA/IFEX) – On 28 September 2004, journalist Miguel Ángel Morales, secretary general of the National Press Society (Círculo Nacional de Prensa, CNP), was assassinated. The incident occurred on the highway from Guatemala City to Izabal department, in northern Guatemala. In a separate case, CERIGUA was informed that journalist César Augusto López Valle, director of the […]
(CERIGUA/IFEX) – On 28 September 2004, journalist Miguel Ángel Morales, secretary general of the National Press Society (Círculo Nacional de Prensa, CNP), was assassinated. The incident occurred on the highway from Guatemala City to Izabal department, in northern Guatemala. In a separate case, CERIGUA was informed that journalist César Augusto López Valle, director of the magazine “Panorama”, based in Retalhuleu department, approximately 200 kilometres from Guatemala City, received a death threat.
According to information gathered by CERIGUA, Morales was driving on the highway when a vehicle behind him, which did not have a licence plate, began to swerve. Thinking that the individuals in the vehicle were inebriated, Morales pulled over to let them pass, at which point an unidentified individual got out of the vehicle and shot the journalist, killing him instantly.
In López’s case, the journalist told CERIGUA that on 25 September he received a death threat from a member of the Guatemalan Veterans’ Association (Asociación de Veteranos Militares de Guatemala, AVEMILGUA). According to López, Aurelio Pérez, treasurer of AVEMILGUA’s local branch, grabbed him by the neck and told him he would be killed if he continued to report on matters related to the association.
López believes that the threat is linked to a “Panorama” article in which he reported that members of the Civil Defence Patrols (Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil, PAC) held meetings with a congressman, General Otto Pérez Molina, in a local school.
Journalists in Retalhuleu department currently fear reprisals following a 31 August confrontation between police and a group of peasants during an eviction at the Nueva Linda ranch. Eleven people were killed during the incident and seven journalists were injured (see IFEX alerts of 10 and 1 September 2004).
Journalists who reported on the eviction have been asked by the Congressional Human Rights Commission and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to testify regarding what happened during the eviction. At the same time, members of the press have unsuccessfully been trying to recover photographs and videotapes that were confiscated by police.
On 28 September, Quetzaltenango department’s Court of First Instance set bail at Q10,000 (approx. US$1,271) for three police officers accused of having beaten the journalists and seized their materials.
