Guatemala

The daughter of a veteran Guatemalan radio journalist gunned down on June 25 by unidentified attackers was herself fatally shot on Tuesday, prompting IPI to call on authorities to do more to protect journalists and bring their killers to justice.

IFEX-ALC is deeply concerned with the increase in acts of violence against journalists in Guatemala. Since the new government of President Jimmy Morales began its mandate in January 2016, five journalists have been killed.

“The murder of Álvaro Alfredo Aceituno López is likely to further chill the climate for freedom of the press in Guatemala, where lawlessness and impunity already perpetuate a cycle of violence and intimidation,” said Carlos Lauría, CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Americas.

The Inter American Press Association condemns the theft of 26 computers from the Guatemalan magazine Crónica and suspects it may have been a strategy to silence investigations conducted by the magazine.

In the midst of few guarantees for the safety of journalists in Guatemala, authorities are endorsing the creation of a body that may further increase the vulnerability of freedom of the press.

Regarded as “pirates” by the authorities and telecommunication networks, community radio stations are very vulnerable and are permanently exposed to the possibility of closure or seizure of their equipment.

Danilo López, Federico Salazar and Guido Armando Giovanni Villatoro were murdered in Suchitepéquez, Guatemala. Risks faced by the press are expected to worsen in lead up to elections.

To mark Journalists’ Day, Reporters Without Borders calls on Guatemala’s president to issue a statement strongly condemning attacks on journalists, including violations of press freedom by the authorities and security forces.

In the latest display of government hostility towards the elPeriódico daily, security agents roughed up two of its journalists during a news conference by Vice-President Roxana Baldetti.

When will community radio stations be treated with the same respect as commercial and state-owned radio stations in Guatemala?

Dadiana Cabrera, a journalist with Guatevisión TV, is being prosecuted on an absurd charge of using violence against the police. The case dates back to 27 February 2014, when police handcuffed Cabrera for no apparent reason during an identity check in Guatemala City.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the shooting attack on local TV news anchor Nery Morales in Mazatenango, on 18 February 2014. The host of the “Noticias y más” news programme, Morales was driving home when two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle opened fire on his car.

The Inter American Press Association will send an international delegation to Guatemala next month to take an on-site look into the situation involving senior officials and the editor of the newspaper elPeriódico, against whom several lawsuits have been filed in apparent reprisal for his work.

A judge has issued an order banning journalist José Rubén Zamora from going to the vice president’s home and place of work or study” for six months. The journalist had recently published investigations and criticism of alleged wrongdoing in the public office in which the vice president works.

César Pérez Méndez, the managing editor of the elQuetzalteco daily, has reported receiving death threats in which he was warned to stop publishing information about “things that have nothing to do with him”. The threats against him were made via phone calls and text messages.

Viltor García, a bodyguard for the owner of TV station Vea Canal, was killed by unidentified shooters as he was finishing a shift. The station has been blocked by cable companies for its critical commentary.