Guatemala City.- The arrest of a well-known Guatemalan journalist under signs of money laundering unleashed a series of claims of activists, politicians, religious, businessmen and communicators against the Guatemalan authorities after considering it an abuse of the justice system against opponents and critics of the government of President Alejandro Giammattei.
Authorities arrested Friday night at his home José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, director of El Periódico, a outlet that has conducted investigations into corruption in the Giammattei administration. The journalist has received international awards such as the Maria Moors Cabot Award in 1995 and the King of Spain International Award in 2021.
“It is an orchestrated plan, where now the corrupt are not persecuted, but opponents,” said Eleonora Muralles, activist and human rights defender, who added that there is a strategy to co-opt the justice system and assemble evidence and cases against opponents. to the Giammattei government.
The Episcopal Conference of Guatemala indicated in a press release that what happened with Zamora sow doubts about the extent to which there is still an effective rule of law in Guatemala.
“The self-proclaimed arguments of justice and the rule of law are perceived by many citizens and legal professionals more motivated by a spirit of revenge than as impartial acts of the administration of justice,” the Conference stated.
The religious also pointed out that the Foundation Against Terrorism, a far-right activist organization made up of people who defend soldiers accused of war crimes and accused of corruption, who file complaints and are dealt with expeditiously by the Public Ministry and the Judicial Body.
The conference highlighted that the leading role of the Foundation, in this case and others of persecuting justice operators, gives it a hegemonic role that leaves justice organizations in conditions of precariousness and submission.
For more than nine hours, the prosecution raided the home of Zamora Marroquín on Friday, whom the prosecution accuses of money laundering. Agents seized two phones, the journalist said upon his arrival at the courthouse at midnight on Friday.
The workshop where the morning paper is printed also was raided and eight workers were held for more than 16 hours, while the prosecution checked computers and searched for documents in newspaper offices. In its social networks, the media indicated that the prosecution tried to stop the printing of its newspaper, which was finally published.
El Periódico is one of the media outlets that has carried out the most anti-corruption investigations into the Giammattei government. Among his investigations are the alleged bribes received by the president from Russian citizens in exchange for support or the alleged fraudulent purchase of vaccines against COVID-19. Giammattei has denied the allegations.
Zamora Marroquín has declared to journalists that he will begin a hunger strike in rejection of his detention, after a judge on duty ordered him to remain in prison and set his first statement hearing for Monday.
“I have 36 hours without eating or drinking water,” he denounced.
Several journalists and activists protested on Saturday in front of the justice courts to demand that the journalist be released.
The prosecution also detained assistant prosecutor Samari Carolina Gómez, whom she accuses of disclosing confidential information to Zamora. The prosecutor told The Associated Press on Friday night that her actions have always been in accordance with the law.
Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, told local media that Zamora was arrested for money laundering offenses in his capacity as an entrepreneur and not for his journalistic work. Curruchiche was sanctioned by the US State Department, accused of hindering the fight against corruption and undermining the country’s democracy.
According to the newspaper, Consuelo Porras, who heads the Public Ministry, said that she would investigate this outlet after the publication of publications pointing to acts of corruption of politiciansincluding the president, who has said that he is a friend of the prosecutor.
The US State Department also sanctioned Porras in 2021, accusing her of hindering the fight against corruption and undermining democracy, and withdrew her entry visa to that country.
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Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern said he was dismayed by Zamora’s arrest and reiterated that “journalism is not a crime.”
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