Guatemala

New York, June 8, 2009--An unidentified gunman shot and killed Guatemalan television reporter Marco Antonio Estrada on Saturday night in the eastern city of Chiquimula, the local press reported. 

New York, April 2, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Guatemalan authorities today to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the shooting of a two-man TV crew in Guatemala City on Wednesday. Unidentified gunmen killed veteran reporter Rolando Santiz and injured cameraman Antonio de León. 

Combating impunity has been a long and difficult process, full of obstacles and problems. At the national level it has not been easy, so much of our work is carried out using the supranational tools that we helped develop. They began taking shape through international intergovernmental declarations, in conclusions reached by international legislative and judicial conferences and, especially, in opinions and decisions of the Inter-American Human Rights Court and Commission.

Powerful drug traffickers in Mexico, gangsters in Brazilian slums, paramilitaries in Colombia, and violent street gangs in El Salvador and Guatemala are terrorizing the press. Self-censorship is widespread. By Carlos Lauría

Violence associated with organized crime fueled widespread self-censorship, especially in the provinces. Journalists sometimes wrote without bylines when covering dangerous subjects, but many were still attacked and threatened. Ongoing violence led to the slayings of two journalists and the kidnapping of a third.

Two days after being abducted and badly beaten in Guatemala, prominent journalist José Rubén Zamora was still in shock. "I can't remember what happened, but I was drugged and left unconscious in a hospital in the outskirts of Guatemala City," he told me on Saturday after he was released from the local hospital.

His colleagues at the daily elPeriodico and members of the local media were stunned by the news on Thursday. Rumors had spread that morning that Zamora had been killed. Claudia Mendez, an editor at the paper, told me that she started crying. Zamora, a 1995 recipient of CPJ's International Press Freedom Award, is considered one of the top investigative journalists in Central America by his peers.

We issued the following statement today in response to Thursday's abduction and subsequent release of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, a 1995 recipient of CPJ's International Press Freedom Award:

"We are alarmed by the kidnapping and reported beating of José Rubén Zamora, president of the Guatemalan daily El Periodico. Zamora has previously been the victim of attacks in retaliation for his paper's investigative work," said CPJ's Americas Senior Program Coordinator, Carlos Lauría. "Authorities should conduct a prompt and exhaustive investigation into this crime, and provide Zamora and El Periodico's staff with the necessary protection to continue working without fear of reprisal."

JULY 27, 2008

Posted August 6, 2008

Edín Rodelmiro Maas Bol, Radio Punto
ATTACKED

Unidentified individuals fired gunshots at the home of journalist Edín Rodelmiro Maas Bol moments after he had entered the house in Cobán, Alta Verapaz province, the reporter told CPJ.

New York, May 12, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Jorge Mérida Pérez, a correspondent in Quetzatenango province for the national Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre. Mérida was shot to death in his home on Saturday afternoon. CPJ calls on the Guatemalan authorities to begin an immediate, thorough investigation into this brutal killing.

APRIL 9, 2008Posted May 9, 2008

Eduardo García, Telecentro 13
María Teresa López, Prensa Libre and Emisoras Unidas
ATTACKED, HARRASED

Protesters shot at García, a cameraman for the national television station Telecentro 13, while he was covering a demonstration of local residents in San Juan Alotenango, a small city 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Guatemala City. Colleagues told CPJ the journalist was in stable condition.