Guatemala

Last May, eight international organisations, with the support of two networks advocating for freedom of expression and the press, visited Guatemala to understand the situation ahead of the general elections.

The mission revealed the stigmatization, criminalization, and judicialisation of journalists and communicators in the country.

Fourteen organizations call for justice in Zamora’s case and respect for the rule of law

“This cruel persecution must stop now. We deplore José Rubén Zamora’s six-year prison sentence and the mistreatment to which he has been subjected, and we are very concerned about his state of health.”

The malice of the Guatemalan government against freedom of the press is once again in evidence with the request for 40 years in prison for journalist José Rubén Zamora.

We call on authorities to respect and protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press as necessary conditions to guarantee democracy and the legitimacy of the electoral process.

“The decision of the ‘elPeriódico’ newspaper to cease publication is the result of the President Alejandro Giammattei administration’s judicial and financial harassment of the outlet’s founder, José Rubén Zamora, and its journalists for their critical reporting on corruption”.  

“The real target of ‘El Periódico’ owner José Rubén Zamora’s trial is independent journalism and the more than 150 reports that his newspaper has published about government corruption in Guatemala.”

“The judicial harassment of the newspaper ‘El Periódico’ must stop and its publisher must be released.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Guatemalan authorities to stop any investigation of columnists and employees of ‘elPeriódico’ newspaper, release its president José Rubén Zamora unconditionally, and allow the newspaper’s staff to work freely.

When police arrested José Rubén Zamora in July 2022, it marked the latest salvo in a decades-long campaign of harassment against the pioneering Guatemalan investigative journalist.

Flora Silva was arrested in connection with a criminal investigation into the outlet’s president, José Rubén Zamora, who has been detained since July 29.

The international organizations that promote the defense and protection of human rights and, in particular, freedom of expression, condemn the arbitrary detention for political purposes of the prominent journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder and president of the newspaper elPeriódico, who is being persecuted in retaliation for his investigative work on corruption and other issues of public interest in Guatemala.

“Guatemalan authorities should immediately release and drop any criminal charges against journalist José Rubén Zamora, president of ‘elPeriódico’. Judicial persecution against journalists is a mechanism of intimidation.”

Guatemalan authorities should drop all charges and stop using laws intended to protect women from violence to target and intimidate reporters.

The report provides insights into the patterns of systemic discrimination which marginalise women, and remain deeply entrenched in both the publishing industry and the protocols of literary awards in five Latin American countries.

Choc said police officers shoved him and confiscated his phone and microphone while he was attempting to cover the protests against mining. Guatemalan authorities should immediately drop criminal charges and stop using the country’s justice system to harass and silence the press.