OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Guatemala

Freedom of Expression

Guatemala

    

            115.     The Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression participated in the on-site visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to Guatemala in March 2003.

 

            116.     On concluding its visit, the Commission stated its concern over the stepped-up threats to and acts of harassment of journalists, especially those who cover investigations of acts of corruption and human rights violations.  In addition, the IACHR stated its concern over the lack of any regulation of television and radio broadcasting concessions that take into account democratic criteria guaranteeing equal opportunity of access to such media, particularly in relation to including indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, women, and youth.[1]

           

117.     In late November 2003, the IACHR adopted a Report on the Administration of Justice and Rule of Law in Guatemala.  It includes a chapter on the situation of freedom of expression prepared by the Rapporteurship at the request of the Commission.

 

            118.     The report indicates that the Commission, through the Rapporteurship, has received information in recent years indicating that in Guatemalaexercising the freedom of expression has resulted in assassinations and intimidation of journalists, with a worrisome increase in 2003, to the detriment mainly of investigative journalists and human rights defenders.  These attacks are aimed at silencing reports and investigations regarding past violations or concerning politically sensitive matters.

 

            119.     This section refers to certain events of 2003 described in that report, provides updated information on some of them, and includes others.

 

            120.     Various sectors of civil society called for a visit by the Special Rapporteur.  On April 11, the Rapporteur sent the State a proposal for dates for such a visit in July.  Nonetheless, no response was received from the State.

 

            Kidnapping

 

            121.     On October 26, 2003, in Huehuetenango, four journalists from the daily paper La Prensa and pilot Hilario Guerra, of the Secretariat of Administrative and Security Matters of the Presidency (SAAS, by its Spanish acronym), were detained by a group of former members of the Civil Defense Patrols (Patrullas de Auto Defensa Civil, known as exPAC) to force the State to pay compensation for having helped the army during the war of the 1980s.  The Rapporteur issued a press release condemning the kidnapping of the journalists and demanded their immediate release.[2]  That day, Fredy López and Emerson Díaz were on their way to cover a political rally for the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) candidate, Efraín Ríos Montt, in La Libertad, capital of Huehuetenango, when they found that a group of former patrol members had blocked the highway to demand the payment.  The reporters were held by the protesters.  After learning of the incident, Alberto Ramírez and Mario Linares went to the place accompanied by two representatives of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson (Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos, or PDH), Thelma Schaub and Henry Hernández, who went to negotiate their release.  The reporters were detained, while the PDH officials were able to get away.  The protesters agreed to release the hostages after 51 hours of captivity in exchange for allowing them to enter a compensation program that the government offered the exPAC.[3]

 

            Attacks and threats

 

            122.     In the course of the year, on two occasions the Rapporteurship expressed its profound concern over the threats to and attacks on journalists in Guatemala, the number of which increased in the months of June and July of 2003.[4]

 

            123.     As the Commission indicated, the information received regarding the lack of significant progress in the investigation and punishment of the persons responsible for these attacks and acts of intimidation is worrisome.  Impunity in the investigation of these acts helps create a climate of intimidation that hinders the full exercise of freedom of expression and investigation in Guatemala, as it discourages reports of violations of human rights.  At the same time, it has a direct effect on freedom of expression by sending an encouraging message to those who perpetrate such crimes, who find themselves protected by a pattern of impunity that allows them to continue to carry out such acts.

 

            124.     During its on-site visit, the Commission was informed of the submission of 75 reports of threats to journalists to the Specialized Prosecutor for Crimes against Journalists and Trade Unionists.  Some of the paradigmatic cases are reported here.

 

            125.     On January 24, 2003, unknown persons cut the high-tension cable that provided power to the broadcast facility of the radio station Pop 95.1 F.M. in Chimaltenango.  The radio station was off the air for four days.  According to its director, Concepción Cojón Morales, this incident may have been related to reports by the anchormen regarding acts of corruption, violations of the Peace Accords, and the resurgence of the Civil Defense Patrols (PAC, by its Spanish acronym).

           

126.     On March 2, 2003, several men entered the home of Prensa Libre columnist and radio host Marielos Monzón Paredes and searched her belongings, but did not take objects of value.[5]  Later, she received seven threatening telephone calls on her cellular phone.  Previously, Monzón had received other threats apparently related to her publications on the events that beset the Azmitia Dorantes family, whose case is before the IACHR.  In addition, she reported having received intimidating phone calls after the publication of a column related to the assassination of indigenous leader Antonio Pop.  The callers threatened that she would meet the same fate.  On March 18, 2003, the IACHR asked the Guatemalan State to adopt precautionary measures to protect her life and personal integrity.[6]

 

            127.     In May 2003, the director of the radio news program La Noticia, Pablo Rax, in Cobán, Alta Verapaz, received threats by telephone from unknown persons urging him to refrain from engaging in journalistic investigations, and who warned him to “be careful” since they were “marking his steps” and that he should stop saying “things that are of no concern to you.”  Rax, who is also a correspondent for Guatevisión, had prepared some reports on drug-trafficking in Alta Verapaz and had reported acts of corruption.[7]

 

            128.     Journalist and anchorman Edgar René Sáenz, of the program Somos de Hoy, broadcast on Radio Xocomil Stéreo in Sololá, reported that since June 4, 2003, he had received telephone calls with death threats, and that he had even been personally intimidated when a group of unknown persons showed up at his place of work to warn him to stop reporting “on the matter.”  Sáenz has reported acts of corruption by the government, drug-trafficking, and anomalies in the public health centers.  The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson asked the National Civilian Police to take protective measures.[8]

 

            129.     José Rubén Zamora, journalist and president of El Periódico, and his family were attacked and threatened by 12 heavily-armed persons, who broke into their residence on June 24, 2003 at 8:30 a.m.  Zamora, his wife, his three children (13, 18, and 26 years of age) and a domestic worker were bound, intimidated, and assaulted for more than two hours.  On leaving their home, the persons warned him: “don’t mess with those at the top.”[9]  Two days later, Zamorareported that three vehicles with polarized glass had followed him when he was headed from his home to the offices of El Periódico.  In addition, several members of the staff received threats by phone in which they were warned: “soon your death notices will be published along with those of José Rubén Zamora.”[10]  On June 27, he reported that due to the intimidation and pressures, he had to get his family out of the country.[11]  The Rapporteur, Eduardo Bertoni, expressed his grave concern over the threats received by Zamora in a press release issued July 7, 2003.[12]  The Human Rights Ombudsperson sought precautionary measures from the IACHR on behalf of Zamora.  The State was asked to provide information.

 

            130.     Luis Barillas, director of the news program La Voz de la Parroquia, of Radio San Pablo, correspondent for Prensa Libre in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, and journalist for Nuestro Diario reported having received, the night of June 23, 2003, a telephone call in which he was warned: “This is the first peaceful warning, and it’s time that you shut up.”  The next day, he received another telephone call in which he was told: “You’re going to die, it may be weeks or months, but you’re going to die.”  He has indicated that the intimidation is likely related to a political rally in Rabinal in which stones were thrown at Efraín Ríos Montt, candidate for the Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG); the rally was held the same day as the remains of 70 victims of the internal armed conflict were being laid to rest.[13]  The journalist reported the intimidating acts to the Public Ministry and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson.  On July 4, unknown persons threw a homemade bomb at his home.  No one was injured nor was there material damage.  The next day, his sister received an anonymous message containing threats.[14]

 

            131.     The correspondent of the Centro de Reportes Informativos sobre Guatemala (Cerigua) in Baja Verapaz, Carmen Judith Morán Cruz, received death threats the night of June 29, 2003, when she received two telephone calls at home.  An unknown person warned her: “I give you 24 hours to resign from Cerigua, because you’ve exhausted my patience because of your publications there.  If you don’t comply, you and your family will suffer the consequences.”[15]  Ten minutes later she received another call in the same terms.[16]  On Thursday, July 3, she received another telephone call in which the intimidation was repeated[17] by a person who stated that her movements were being closely monitored.  The intimidation was related to her coverage of exhumations in clandestine cemeteries containing the remains of civilians massacred in 1981, during Guatemala’s civil war, and of a political rally at which Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) candidate Ríos Montt had been stoned and heckled.[18]

 

            132.     On July 3, 2003, unknown persons forcibly entered the residence of investigative journalist Luis Eduardo De León, of El Periódico.  The unknown persons took the computer, several diskettes with information related to his work, and documents belonging to his wife, who had worked for several years at the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City (ODHA, by its Spanish acronym).[19]

 

            133.     On July 8, 2003, Angel Martín Tax, reporter for Radio Sonora and correspondent for Prensa Libre and Nuestro Diario in Alta Verapaz, found a receptacle with flowers by the door of his home, which in Guatemala is considered a funereal symbol.  Previously, in May and June, Tax had received four death threats.  He reported the incident to the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman, the Public Ministry, and the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).[20]

 

            134.     On July 11, 2003, journalist Claudia Méndez Arriaza received a telephone call in which a threat was transmitted that was directed against the director of El Periódico, Juan Luis Font.[21]  On July 23, the IACHR asked the Guatemalan State to issue precautionary measures to protect Font’s life and personal integrity.

 

            135.     On July 11, 2003, armed men forced their way into the production plant of Nuestro Diario.  After asking about several employees, they fired their weapons several times.  Directors of this newspaper also reported that they were being followed by unidentified vehicles.

 

            136.     On July 24, 2003, demonstrators with their faces covered, bearing firearms, sticks, and machetes, surrounded the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson, protesting the suspension of the process of registering Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) candidate Efraín Ríos Montt.  During the protests, journalist Héctor Ramírez, 62 years of age, who worked for Radio Sonora and Noti 7, died after suffering a heart attack when trying to flee a mob of protesters.[22]  Juan Carlos Torres, a photographer with the morning paper El Periódico, and Héctor Estrada, cameraman with the television station Guatevisión, fled after the demonstrators sprayed them with gasoline in an effort to burn both journalists.[23]  On July 25, 2003, the Commission issued a press release condemning the acts of violence and urging the State to adopt all measures necessary to ensure the physical integrity of all Guatemalans and to ensure the rule of law.[24]

 

            137.     In the days following the events of July 24, 2003, several journalists reported threats.  The director of the news program Guatevisión, Haroldo Sánchez, reported having received death threats by telephone and email.  Reporters and cameramen from Guatevisión were also the target of verbal attacks.[25]

 

            138.     In July 2003, information was received about the intimidation of several journalists in the country.  In Zacapa, journalists Juan Carlos Aquino, host of the news program Punto Informativo, and Nehemías Castro, director of the television program Personajes, reported new attacks against them after they reported on the mobilization of Frente Republicano Guatemalteco (FRG) sympathizers, and after they denounced the alleged political manipulation of several peasants and teachers to support violent actions on behalf of the official party.[26]

 

            139.     On August 18, 2003, journalist Juan Carlos Aquino, host of the radio news program Punto Informativo, of Radio Novedad, in Zacapa, and correspondent of Radio Punto, once again reported having received threats by telephone.[27]  He attributed the threats to his coverage of the FRG demonstrations in Guatemala City.[28]

 

            140.     On July 30, 2003, journalist Edwin Perdomo, correspondent of Prensa Libre and Radio Punto in Puerto Barrios, Izabal, reported having received telephone calls in which he was warned that he should stop putting out news about the FRG or else he would meet with the same fate as journalist Mynor Alegría, who was assassinated in September 2001.  Perdomo’s news program had previously denounced alleged anomalies committed by public officials.[29]  He requested protection from the National Civilian Police.

 

            141.     Journalist Carlos René Torres, host of the television program Diálogo, reported to the Office of the Auxiliary Ombudsperson for Human Rights (PDH, by its Spanish acronym) of Chiquimula that unknown persons had been harassing him by telephone, demanding that he change the format of his program, and that if he did not do so he or one of his family members could die.  Torres also reported that on the night of August 10, 2003, after leaving his job and getting on his motorcycle, a dark sedan with polarized glass followed him for several blocks and tried to run him down.  Accordingly, he demanded that the authorities provide him protection.  The office of the PDH in Chiquimula filed a recurso de exhibición personal on his behalf and sought accompaniment by the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).[30]

 

            142.     On September 26, 2003, during a political rally in Ixcán, Quiché, opponents of candidate Ríos Montt clashed with his supporters.  The journalists who covered the incident were assaulted.

 

            143.     In October 2003, the following Suchitepéquez-based journalists reported to the Public Ministry that they had been threatened after denouncing acts of corruption: Cristian Soto, of Radio Punto; Luis Ortiz, of Canal TV Imagen; Julio Rodas, of Nuestro Diario; Fredy Rodas, of Prensa Libre; Saúl de León, of Radio Santa Bárbara; and Nery Morales, of the cable channel Canal Optimo, of the Intercable network.[31]

 

            144.     On November 9, 2003, the day of the first round of presidential elections, reporters Ramiro Sandoval and Nery Gallardo of the news program Video Noticias, were attacked while covering the elections in the municipality of Asunción Mita, Jutiapa.  They reported to the Public Ministry that supporters of the FRG robbed part of their equipment and tried to beat them.[32]

 

            Access to information

 

            145.     On January 15, 2003, the president ordered that press access to the act of distributing dividends at the state-owned enterprise Portuaria Quetzal, in Escuintla, be prohibited.  There, armed guards were keeping watch over the entrance to the facilities to keep reporters from entering.[33]

 

            146.     On January 20, 2003, the security staff of President Alfonso Portillo kept a group of journalists from entering a public act in a school in Zacapa.[34]  On January 21, the Congress unanimously approved an operative point condemning this as a violation of Article 35 of the Constitution by the president for denying access to the press.[35]

 

            147.     On January 28, 2003, journalists were barred from access to the Foreign Ministry when they sought to cover the unveiling of a bust of Benito Juárez by the president.

 

            148.     On April 9, 2003, then-president of the Congress, Efraín Ríos Montt, told journalists who were asking for documents related to budgetary execution in 2001 and 2002 that any such information must be requested in writing from the officers (Junta Directiva) of the legislative body.  Members of the press and human rights communities condemned this attitude, considering it to constitute an obstacle to access to information.[36]  This information was reiterated to the Rapporteur during the Commission's visit.

 

            149.     The Rapporteurship received information about the consideration by the Congress of various bills related to freedom of expression and access to information.  As of this writing, they had not been approved.

 

            Others

 

            150.     During the on-site visit, the Rapporteurship also received information concerning an increase in the number of times that journalists have been called to the Public Ministry to reveal their sources.  These include one time when representatives of El Periódico who were summonsed refused to respond to ensure that their sources would be protected.

 

            151.     The director of El Periódico, José Rubén Zamora, was summonsed by León Argueta, Attorney General of the Republic, to provide evidence that was in his possession in relation to a report linking Argueta to a company that had breached a public works contract.  He was told that if he did not provide the evidence, he would be taken by the authorities to the Office of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor.  Finally, Zamora had to send, in writing, the documents on which the report relied.[37]

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