GUATEMALA

Country Summary

Guatemala was once again one of the most perilous places for journalists in Latin America. The nation’s judicial institutions remained ineffective in safeguarding the media and implementing a general rule of law, and the press, which has aggressively pursued stories on corruption, contraband, and kidnapping rings, was subjected to threats and violent assaults.

The murders of two journalists last year remain unsolved, a chilling reminder that despite a transition to democratic rule over the last decade, the culture of impunity that has long plagued Guatemala continues to be a serious concern. While the government’s overt censorship and the press’s self-censorship have diminished, there persists a troubling undercurrent of intolerance on the part of the government toward the news media. Journalists complain that the government continues to restrict the press’s and public’s access to official information.

In December, the government and former guerrilla insurgents signed a historic peace accord mediated by the United Nations, ending the longest civil war in Latin America. The 36-year conflict had ravaged much of the country, claimed more than 100,000 lives, most of them civilian, and resulted in the disappearance of thousands more. Under the terms of the accord, a general amnesty was approved that will most likely leave the murder or disappearance of numerous journalists unresolved and unpunished. CPJ denounced the amnesty in a letter to President Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen, saying that, “Contrary to contributing to national reconciliation, a general amnesty would further aggravate the reigning climate of impunity.” The family of Jorge Carpio, the former publisher of the daily El Gráfico and leader of the National Centrist Party who was murdered in 1993 and whose death is still unsolved, also denounced the amnesty.

The Guatemalan media have matured and diversified. Radio programs and publications in Mayan languages and other new media outlets have emerged, broadening the range of the news media in Guatemala and providing information to sectors of the population that had been excluded because of language barriers. In addition, two new daily newspapers have begun publication, including El Periódico, started by José Ruben Zamora Marroquin, former editor of the newspaper Siglo Veintiuno. “The press became more professional in 1996, was more openly critical of the government, and wrote about massacres committed during the civil war, drug trafficking, and a series of topics that were once taboo,” said Haroldo Shetemul, an editor with Crónica, the country’s leading newsmagazine.

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