A hundred journalists demonstrated on Saturday the day after the arrest of José Rubén Zamora, founder of the daily El Periodicovery critical of President Alejandro Giamattei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras, noted AFP.
Zamora was arrested on Friday at his home in the south of the capital as part of a money laundering investigation, prosecutors’ spokesman Juan Luis Pantaleon told AFP.
“He was arrested in connection with a potential money laundering case. This is not related to his work as a journalist, but as a businessman,” he assured.
Police and prosecutors also raided the newspaper’s headquarters, with the editorial staff seeing it as retaliation for articles accusing the government and Ms Porras of corruption.
“The Attorney General [Consuelo Porras] carried out the threats made against the president ofEl Periodico. They will not silence us, ”responded the newspaper on its social networks, after the arrest.
In its Saturday edition, the newspaper accused President Giamattei of being behind the arrest.
A hundred colleagues of Mr. Zamora, to whom he announced to start a hunger strike, demonstrated on Saturday in front of the court, joined by other colleagues, noted an AFP photographer.
The placards brandished in the rally proclaimed “Without newspapers there is no democracy”, or even “We will not be silenced”.
During his transfer to the court, Mr. Zamora had indicated that he would be at the disposal of justice. “I imagine there must be a conspiracy, a persecution […] and if so, love for Guatemala must be paid for in prison,” he added.
Last September, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the decision of the Guatemalan courts to open an investigation into El Periodico for publishing testimony accusing Ms. Porras of corruption.
“We are in a very difficult moment. I wouldn’t like to think that we are becoming Nicaragua 2.0,” said Guatemalan mediator Jordan Rodas, referring to the convictions of journalists critical of President Daniel Ortega in the neighboring country in recent years.
In June, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) added Guatemala to the list of countries with serious human rights violations. Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua also appear on this one.
The prosecution, under the leadership of Ms. Porras, was implicated for having arrested and prosecuted several anti-mafia judges and prosecutors. The prosecutor was sanctioned by Washington and included in the Engel List of “corrupt and undemocratic” figures identified by the United States.