New York, September 18, 2001—Guatemalan radio journalist Jorge Mynor Alegría Armendáriz was murdered at around 10 p.m. on the evening of September 5, CPJ has confirmed. Alegría was shot at least five times outside his home in Puerto Barrios, a port city located on the Caribbean coast in Izabal Department. His personal effects were untouched,…
New York, August 7, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday sent a letter of inquiry to Adolfo González Rodas, attorney general of Guatemala, expressing concern about the August 1 attack by police officers against four Guatemalan journalists who were covering demonstrations protesting a recent tax raise. According to local sources, when police moved to arrest…
New York, June 5, 2001 — At a recent seminar in Guatemala City, the local press freedom organization Centro para la Defensa de la Libertad de Expresión (CEDEX) encouraged journalists from all over Guatemala to report attacks on the press in their areas. Journalists in Guatemala often face violent threats in response to their work,…
BY EXPOSING CORRUPTION, POLITICAL INTRIGUE, and massive abuse of power, journalists in Peru helped bring down the regime of President Alberto K. Fujimori last year. Fujimori’s dramatic fall demonstrated that the Latin American press remains a key bulwark against leaders who continue to use subtle and not-so subtle means to control the flow of information.…
DESPITE THREATS AND INTIMIDATION, Guatemalan journalists continued to pursue dangerous stories, including investigations into military activities and a government intelligence agency. Perhaps the biggest story of the year was the August revelation that Guatemalan legislators had secretly conspired to reduce a new tax on alcoholic beverages. Among those implicated in the scandal was the president…
Your Excellency, We are writing to express our deep concern about the attack against the offices of the Guatemala City daily elPeriódico, which apparently resulted from the newspaper’s coverage of high-level corruption in your government.
Dear Mr. González Rodas, The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned for the safety of journalists in Guatemala, based on information we have received from the Centro para la Defensa de la Libertad de Expresión (CEDEX), a Guatemalan press freedom organization. According to a CEDEX communiqué sent yesterday, May 18, at least four reporters for the Guatemala City daily elPeriódico were threatened or intimidated while the newspaper was preparing an investigative article about a secret intelligence operation.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in GUATEMALA. New York, April 28, 2000 — A photographer for the Guatemala City daily Prensa Libre was killed yesterday and two other journalists were injured when private security guards opened fire on rioters in Guatemala City.
By Marylene SmeetsGovernments in several Latin American countries took steps to bring their media laws up to international standards. But as the Latin American press continued to expose wrongdoing, its very strength rendered it vulnerable to a new kind of harassment: defamation campaigns.
Speaking Out in Guatemala and l SalvadorBy Marylene SmeetsLast April, a mysterious program called “Hoy por Hoy” (“Right Now”) appeared on Guatemalan radio. The format consisted of gossip and political chitchat, and the hosts seemed to have it in for journalists. One of them often described Dina Fern‡ndez, a columnist and editor at Guatemala’s biggest…