Jose Ruben Zamora, its director, jailed on malicious charges

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December 7, 2022


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El Periodico newspaper shut down in Guatemala, its director jailed on malicious charges
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“It has been 30 years of struggle against corruption and impunity, against governmental abuses and terrorism,
in favor of freedom transparency and accountability”
(El Periodico director Ruben Zamora, final editorial, written from prison cell)

And the bad guys won!

The U.S. and Canadian-backed Guatemala regime – a “democratic allie” – has crushed the El Periodico newspaper, and jailed jose Ruben Zamora, its founder and editor, on trumped up charges.

On our recent Testimonio delegation, we learned firsthand about the systemic corruption, violence and impunity of the military-backed Guatemala regime and the continued expansion of North American corporate investments across the country.
Guatemala’s El Periodico newspaper, facing government pressure, stops print edition
By AP, NOV. 30, 2022
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Jose Ruben Zamora, president of Guatemalan newspaper El Periodico, stands in his cell in Guatemala City after a court hearing on July 30. Zamora, who has overseen dozens of investigations into government corruption, is charged with money laundering and extortion.
(Moises Castillo / Associated Press)
Jose Ruben Zamora, president of Guatemalan newspaper El Periodico, stands in his cell in Guatemala City after a court hearing on July 30. Zamora, who has overseen dozens of investigations into government corruption, is charged with money laundering and extortion.
(Moises Castillo / Associated Press)

The prominent Guatemalan investigative newspaper El Periodico announced Wednesday that it is stopping its print edition after the government arrested the paper’s president. José Rubén Zamora was arrested in July and charged with money laundering and extortion.

Zamora has overseen dozens of investigations into corruption during his leadership at El Periodico since the paper was founded in 1996.

All of the paper’s reporters have been let go, and it is not clear how it can continue with digital editions only. The government has withdrawn advertising and has allegedly pressured businesses to do the same.

“It has been 30 years of struggle against corruption and impunity, against governmental abuses and terrorism, in favor of freedom transparency and accountability,” Zamora wrote in a final editorial, datelined from the prison cell where he is being held.

The closure of the print edition came on Guatemala’s “Day of the Journalist.” Guatemala’s chief prosecutor has been criticized by the United States government for blocking corruption investigations and instead pursuing the prosecutors and judges who carried them out. Mario Recinos, president of the Guatemalan Assn. of Journalists, said reporters have to operate “amid limits on the freedom of expression, harassment, criminalization of journalism and judicial persecution.”

Recinos said five Guatemalan journalists have been forced into exile under the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei because of persecution. […] Around 30 former anti-corruption officials have fled the country, and the persecution appears to have extended to journalists.

Giammattei has been dismissive of U.S. officials’ criticism of his attorney general and what they see as Guatemala backsliding on battling corruption. The country’s new special prosecutor against impunity has been placed on a U.S. list of people suspected of corruption or undermining democracy. He is accused of obstructing corruption investigations.

Zamora has said the case against him “is a set-up effectively designed and mounted by the president, attorney general and other people.” […]
Rights Action archives
Other war crimes trials & work to end corruption and impunity
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More information – Death Squad Dossier war crimes trial
* FAMDEGUA, Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [link removed], [link removed]
* Verdad y Justicia en Guatemala, [link removed], [link removed]

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