(APG/IFEX) – The following is an 8 May 2002 press release of the APG’s Press Freedom Committee: THE PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE OF THE GUATEMALAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (APG) condemns all attempts to restrict the fundamental right to freedom of thought and press freedom by government officials who seek to hide illicit acts. Such action are at […]
(APG/IFEX) – The following is an 8 May 2002 press release of the APG’s Press Freedom Committee:
THE PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE OF THE GUATEMALAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION (APG) condemns all attempts to restrict the fundamental right to freedom of thought and press freedom by government officials who seek to hide illicit acts. Such action are at odds with ethical practices and respect for human life.
On 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, Alfredo Lopez Xicará filed a complaint at the Public Prosecutor’s Office against Pedro Joel Martínez, Second Property Registrar. Alfredo Lopez Xicará accused the government official of having threatened to kill him and of physically and verbally attacking him in connection with a territorial boundary dispute.
Subsequently, in what constitutes an attack against freedom of expression, Pedro Joel Martínez kept out of circulation 90 per cent of an edition of the biweekly El Quezalteco, in an attempt to keep his treatment of Alfredo Lopez Xicará out of the public eye.
According to a number of testimonies, the government official approached various reporters and editors-in-chief in order to ensure that no article reporting on his actions would be published. Failing this, he bought 90 per cent of the biweekly’s Tuesday 7 May edition. This act is an attack on press freedom and demonstrates the government’s intolerance of criticism.
The Press Freedom Committee joins those who have condemned this act and expressed their support for the El Quezalteco employees. A second edition of the newspaper was printed and circulated to ensure that the readers’ right to access information could be exercised.
PRESS FREEDOM COMMITTEE
Guatemala, 8 May 2002
