An opinion piece in the Washington Post has attacked the decision of the Guatemala authorities to arrest the president and founder of the newspaper elPeriódico, José Rubén Zamora, for effectively speaking truth to power.
“This is not a case against my father, it is a systematic attack against freedom of expression and democracy. They started with the activists, continued on to the prosecutors and now they are starting to pursue journalists.”
That’s the truth about the recent arrest of renowned Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, articulated eloquently by his son, Ramón Zamora. In Guatemala, a country rife with corruption and government impunity, truth is hard to find. José Rubén Zamora, president and founder of the Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico, is one of the most important tellers of it. “Since I started as a journalist in 1989, I’ve denounced that we live in a narco-klepto-dictatorship that has us kidnapped and cowered,” Mr. Zamora told the crowd that gathered late last week to watch security forces escort him to the tribunal building. There, Mr. Zamora was spuriously charged with money-laundering, blackmail and influence-peddling. Guatemalan authorities also raided El Periódico’s offices, a move the Association of Guatemalan Journalists said was meant to censor Saturday’s print edition.
Also, in the same newspaper, Rachel Pannett writes about the arrest as a crackdown on political dissent.
An award-winning journalist in Guatemala has gone on a hunger strike to protest his arrest by authorities amid growing signs of a crackdown on political dissent in the country.
José Rubén Zamora was arrested at his home in Guatemala City on Friday night as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, blackmail and influence peddling, according to prosecutors. Zamora denounced the charges against him as a conspiracy, describing his arrest as “political persecution.”
Zamora is president and founder of the newspaper elPeriódico, which has reported on suspected corruption within the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei, including in the prosecutor’s office.
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In a separate post, elPeriódico said it would not be silenced despite what it said were “constant” attacks, persecutions and threats against the paper and its president. “We have always believed in freedom of expression and worked to control power through journalism, against all odds,” the paper said.
You can read the full Opinion piece, with links, here, Guatemalan authorities fear truth. So they arrested José Rubén Zamora, and you can read the piece by Rachel Pannett, again with links, here, Guatemalan journalist arrested in growing crackdown on political dissent.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for his immediate release and you can read their statement here, CPJ calls for immediate release of Guatemala journalist José Rubén Zamora.
Categories: Accompaniment, Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Solidarity in Action, Solidarity in Action/Guatemala, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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