The capture two months ago of José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, recognized as the most influential journalist in Guatemala, and the subsequent raid on the offices of ‘El Periódico’, the media outlet of which he is president and founder, brought to the table the delicate situation of the press in that country under the government of President Alejandro Giammattei.
On the afternoon of July 29, the police officers took Zamora from his residence, accusing him of the crimes of money laundering, blackmail and influence peddling. That same day, the authorities raided the central offices of ‘El Periódico’ and held several journalists from the newsroom incommunicado for more than eight hours.
(Also read: Guatemala: arrest of journalist revives debate on harassment of the press)
The Public Ministry has been emphatic that the process against Zamora is not related to his journalistic work but to his actions as a businessman. “We are absolutely respectful of judicial independence, the autonomy of the investigative body and the division of the three powers of the State,” stressed Kevin López, Secretary of Social Communication of the Presidency.
The director of ‘El Periódico’ is investigated for asking Ronald García, a former local banker, to launder 300,000 quetzales in order to hide the origin of the money. Although García is accused by Zamora himself of helping to launder money for former President Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) and his Salvadoran counterpart Mauricio Funes (2009-2014).
But the journalistic sector assures that the process against the director of ‘El Periódico’ is a reprisal for the publications in which his newspaper has accused the president of corruption and his close circle and classifies the event as an attempt to drown out said media outlet.
(You can read: Guatemala: the reasons behind the pressure against ‘El Periódico’)
Just two days after his capture, the accounts of ‘El Periódico’ were frozen at the request of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI) under the same accusations of money laundering. A fact that Ramón Zamora, son of José Rubén, described as an effort to “paralyze the finances” of the newspaper.
“Zamora played at some point a fundamental role in exposing details of the corruption cases of President Alejandro Giammattei, details of the corruption of Consuelo Porras, the current Attorney General; and that role cost him this criminalization,” says Ana María Méndez, director for Central America of the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (Wola).
From ‘El Periódico’, for example, Zamora and his reporters have denounced cases such as that of the magic carpet, about alleged bribes that Russian businessmen gave Giammattei to negotiate deals in Izabal; or that of ghost positions, that is, cases of anomalous hiring within the State.
A hostile scenario for the press
The first to directly accuse the government was Zamora himself, who stated that his arrest was the product of “a setup designed, planned and executed effectively” by the president and the prosecutor. In fact, eight months before his arrest, in October 2021, the journalist had assured that the State was creating a case against him to arrest him.
The director’s statements were joined by national and international organizations such as the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) or the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that described the act as a persecution against independent journalism.
“Zamora’s case is serious because the government crossed a line by directly seeking not only to lock up the president of a media outlet, but to try to affect his journalistic work by trying to suffocate him economically and find a way to achieve his closure,” Héctor Coloj, coordinator of the Journalists’ Observatory of the Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG), told this newspaper.
(Also: Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega expropriates the building of the newspaper La Prensa)
For them, the Zamora case is just the latest attack by Giammattei and his close circle against reporters, communicators and media directors, but it is also a crusade against free information. “The blow against Zamora is not only against journalism, but it is the blow against democracy, because the citizens themselves have the right to be informed. José Rubén Zamora is not the figure. It is not essentially him, but the right of citizens to have reliable information”, says Mendez.
And the scenario is not favorable. Reporters Without Borders places Guatemala in position 114 out of 180 in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, while the 2021 report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights describes a continuous scenario of risks to journalistic work in said country. .
The APG report also qualifies the Giammattei government as the period with the most repression, persecution and intolerance against the press in recent history.
In the first ten months of Giammattei’s government, that is, from January to November 2020, the APG reported 124 violations or limitations to the press, against 45 registered in the first year of Otto Pérez’s government and 63 in the first year of mandate of Jimmy Morales, whose governments were not beneficial for the press either.
In total, there are more than 370 attacks in 30 months of Giammattei’s mandate: 82 of those complaints of violations occurred until August 2022.
The blow against Zamora is not only against journalism, but it is the blow against democracy, because the citizens themselves have the right to be informed
“From the beginning, when Giammattei assumed the presidency, he changed the dynamics of relations with the press, closing the doors of the presidential house and denying information. From the beginning, this great distance was marked, except with some media that can be considered his allies because they respond to his line or to his interests, ”recalls Méndez.
The APG indicates that the government has embarked on a crusade to limit access to information to both the media and civil society organizations, which is evidenced by 19 complaints of obstruction of sources this year, 29 in the 2021 and 34 in 2020.
(Keep reading: Nicaragua: IAPA warns of deteriorating health of six imprisoned journalists)
On June 6, for example, the newspaper Prensa Libre denounced that the National Civil Police of Guatemala denied for the first time in 20 years the figures of violence to two think tanks, arguing that it was confidential data or information that was not in your file.
The Association also reports 19 cases of defamation against journalists in 2021 and 5 in 2022, 19 complaints of intimidation in 2021 and 8 so far this year, 14 threats against journalists the previous year and 7 in 2022. In addition to 9 cases of judicial harassment, against 5 so far this year.
“There are situations that mainly affect the communicators of the departments. Not signing the articles sometimes does not serve as a protection measure for them, because they are such small places that it is not difficult to know who the journalists are, where they live, where their children study. This has implanted a context of censorship and self-censorship in these places”, says Coloj.
The cooptation of the Public Ministry
But for the APG and other international organizations, the most serious modality regarding the persecution against the press has to do with the criminalization processes carried out by the Public Ministry (MP) against dissident voices.
“Alejandro Giammattei has executed a setback in the rule of law by molding a judicial apparatus that has been placed at his disposal. When he came to power, the persecution of independent judges and prosecutors, journalists, and opponents of the government became a modus operandi to avoid investigations. Which results in a total lack of judicial independence,” says Valeria Vásquez, Control Risks analyst for Central America.
For Mendez, “the cornerstone of criminalization and how judicial independence has been affected in the country is the re-election of Consuelo Porras, the current Attorney General of Guatemala.”
(Also: ‘We must rethink a new generation democracy, more inclusive’)
Porras was included by the United States in the Engel List, which includes officials accused of corruption and anti-democratic attitudes. At the time of her, the US State Department pointed out that “during her administration, Porras repeatedly obstructed and undermined investigations against corruption in Guatemala with the purpose of protecting her political allies and obtaining improper political favors.
Despite this, and even being accused of firing prosecutors who tried to investigate, Porras was re-elected by Giammattei to serve as head of the institution until 2026. The official is directly accused by the APG of “turning the MP into a structure dedicated to hunting , persecution and criminalization of uncomfortable actors for the State such as journalists”.
Added to the specific case of Porras, for example, is that of Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), who leads the case against Zamora, and who was also included by the US in the Engel list, accused of diverting investigations pointing to corruption against President Giammattei.
Alejandro Giammattei has executed a setback in the rule of law by molding a judicial apparatus that has been placed at his disposal
“This is likely to become a trend ahead of the June 2023 elections. The government will try to silence any publication that speaks of government corruption, so any journalist/newspaper may face a case similar to Zamora’s. And with a general prosecutor and a Public Ministry accused of corruption, censorship and persecution will be facilitated”, reflects Vásquez.
(Keep reading: He was born the son of Marcelo Pecci, the Paraguayan prosecutor who was assassinated in Cartagena)
For now, Zamora will have to serve three months in preventive detention while his trial continues in December, while international associations like Wola fear that the Ortega-Murillo government in Nicaragua, which in the first 15 days of August alone closed 17 media outlets, will become a model in the region.
“We fear that all those attacks that have already occurred will evolve, worsen or that there will be sentences not only against journalists, but also against directorsmedia owners or shareholders. This could increase the number of journalists who have to go into exile, as happened during the military dictatorships”, concludes Coloj.
ANGIE NATALY RUIZ HURTADO
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
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