Open letter to the President of Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina
Open letter to the President of Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina
Published on Friday 28 November 2014.
Otto Pérez Molina,
President of the Republic of Guatemala
Paris, 28 November 2014
Dear President Pérez
To mark Guatemala’s national day dedicated to journalists, Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that defends freedom of information, wishes to inform you of its deep concern at the plight of journalists in your country.
Guatemala, ranked 125th of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, remains a highly dangerous country for journalists. The Centre for informative reports on Guatemala (CERIGUA) has recorded 143 violations of press freedom since the start of your presidency. These include pressure, threats, intimidation, assaults and murders targeting journalists and media workers.
The increasing use of the courts, even by the country’s leadership, to prosecute journalists and news organizations is also extremely worrying. Reporters Without Borders was particularly disturbed by the abusive legal proceedings pending against José Ruben Zamora, the editor of the newspaper El Periódico, since last year, and against the magazine Contrapoder in March this year.
These abuses, on the increase since last year, according to the number of complaints received by the public prosecutor, have become widespread against a background of almost total impunity. According to CERIGUA, 24 journalists have been murdered since 2000, including four last year, yet only one investigation has resulted in a conviction.
Such impunity leads to self-censorship, which is detrimental to journalistic activity, especially at a local level where organized crime is deeply rooted. Many journalists curb their investigations into sensitive subjects such as organized crime and corruption on the part of public officials for fear of violent reprisals.
More:
http://en.rsf.org/guatemala-open-letter-to-the-president-of-28-11-2014,47311.html