“El Periódico” from Guatemala publishes its latest edition after closing due to political and economic pressures

The newspaper Guatemalan “The newspaper” published its last digital edition on Monday almost a year after the arrest of its president and under political and economic pressure.

The outlet said goodbye with a compilation of complaints of alleged corruption against the president Alejandro Giammatteito which he attributed his closure.

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With the phrase “#WeSayNoToPower” and the dates 1996-2023 – of its beginning and closing – the medium was last published in digital format.

Telling the truth and rigorously publishing the facts is not easy. In Guatemala it is something that requires courage. Goodbye! pic.twitter.com/0jv7dCydGZ

— elPeriódico (@el_Periodico) May 15, 2023

“During all these years, despite the fact that we have faced countless intimidations, assaults and constant harassment by the powers that be and the establishment, The newspaper has strived to offer its readers the best information to understand society and the world in which we live”, said the outlet.

In November the newspaper went out of print and began to appear only in digital format after laying off some 50 workers, almost 70% of his plant. Only a few journalists continued working but stopped signing their notes to avoid pressure.

However, in March the prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche announced that it was investigating nine journalists and columnists for allegedly obstructing justice by making publications about the judicial process against the director of the outlet, Jose Ruben Zamora. The outlet published the failures of the process and the alleged abuses by judges and prosecutors.

Curruchiche was sanctioned by the Department of State American for hindering the fight against corruption and undermining democracy as well as his boss, the attorney general consuelo porrasclose to Giammattei.

The cover of the latest edition of the newspaper El Periódico de Guatemala, on May 15, 2023. (Photo from Twitter @el_Periodico)

On Monday the newspaper said it had carried out more than 200 documented investigations into acts of corruption in the Giammattei government, many of which the prosecution did not investigate.

In July 2022, the prosecution requested the arrest of Zamora after accusing him of money laundering, blackmail and influence peddling for asking his friend Ronald Garcia Navarijo, a former banker accused of corruption, to deposit about $30,000 in cash in a bank. Instead of doing so, he denounced Zamora.

Zamora’s defense maintains that the money was the product of a donation and that the journalist did not bank it into his own account to avoid knowing who the donor was due to pressure from the government.

MORE INFORMATION: Guatemala: Prosecutor’s Office asks to arrest defenders of journalist opposed to the Government

Zamora, who is currently being tried by a court, said in his latest opinion column that Giammattei “with the oppressive and abusive power of the State annihilated us” and described the government as “a narcoklept fascist, tyrannical, explicit, multi-party dictatorship”.

Various national and international organizations that defend the press and human rights have pointed out that the case against Zamora and El Periódico is a criminalization of the journalistic practice in Guatemala and have requested the journalist’s release.

USA He has criticized the weakening of the fight against corruption in Guatemala during the Giammattei government and has canceled the US visas of several officials, including prosecutor Curruchiche.

Source: Elcomercio