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

Freedom of Expression

Guatemala

25.              According to information received by the Office of the Special Rapporteur, in 2004 there was an improved climate for the exercise of the freedom of expression in Guatemala, in relation to 2003. Nonetheless, there continued to be some cases of attacks on journalists, and there are worrisome aspects, such as the monopoly over open television.

26.              In July, the Guatemalan State admitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights its responsibility in the assassination of journalist and politician Jorge Carpio Nicolle, which occurred in 1993.

PRINCIPLE 4 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Access to information held by the state)

27.              On May 7, 2004, the municipality of Quetzaltenango made known its decision to refuse to provide information about the work of its offices, and to impede coverage of its working meetings. The prohibition was reportedly adopted after publications about the increase in the value of the stipends for the council sessions.[1]

PRINCIPLE 9 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Murder, kidnapping, intimidation of and/or threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of communications media)

 28.              Based on the information received by the Office of the Special Rapporteur, several journalists suffered assaults during their coverage of the conflicts and confrontations between the police and certain social groups. On August 31, 2004, in the department of Retalhuleu, journalists Mario Morales of Nuestro Diario and Edward Morales of Guatevisión were assaulted and had their cameras taken when they were covering an eviction from a farm. Four police and seven campesinos died in that incident. On that occasion, the following journalists were threatened and assaulted: Fredy Rojas of Prensa Libre, Wílliam Meoño and Marvin Guillén, of Nuestro Diario, Mynor Toc and Luis Romero of Cable DX, and Gerardo Montenegro, a journalist with El Regional.[2] A similar incident occurred on August 14, 2004, when journalists from Prensa Libre, El Periódico, and the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson (Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos) were assaulted as they witnessed at a confrontation between vendors in the informal economy and members of the Transit Police in Guatemala City.[3]

 29.              Two cases of threats to local journalists that were reported to the Office of the Special Rapporteur from the Alta Verapaz region. On May 29, 2004, journalist Eduardo  Maaz Bol, correspondent for Radio Punto y Correo del  Norte and Radio Mía, in Cobán, received a death threat from a group allegedly linked to organized crime that operates in the zone. The group, not identified, gave him a deadline for carrying out the threat.[4] On September 13, 2004, also in Cobán, journalist and correspondent Ángel Martín Tax, reporter for Radio Sonora and correspondent for Prensa Libre and Nuestro Diario, was the object of threatening telephone calls, which were received at a colleague’s telephone number. They gave him 24 hours to leave the place. Tax had received threats in 2003.[5]

 30.              Another case of threats reported in Guatemala occurred September 25, 2004. That day the director of the magazine Panorama, in Retalhuleu, César Augusto López Valle, received a death threat, apparently from a member of the Association of Military Veterans (Asociación de Veteranos Militares) of Guatemala, who warned him about information he had put out concerning the activities of that group.[6]

 PRINCIPLE 12 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Existence of monopolies or oligopolies, and the lack of democratic criteria in assigning radio frequencies)

 31.              The Office of the Special Rapporteur received information on proceedings brought against community radio stations. As the Commission has noted before, community radio stations are positive because they foster the culture and history of the communities, so long as they do so legally.[7] The Office of the Special Rapporteur reiterates the importance of establishing democratic criteria for the assignment of radio frequencies.

PRINCIPLE 13 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Indirect violations of the freedom of expression)

32.              On February 26, 2004, the mayor of the city of Flores, in Petén, had reportedly gone, accompanied by another official, to the home of the owner of the radio station Radio Petén, and reportedly demanded of him that he return the property where the radio station was located in exchange for a 30-year usufruct contract. The official was said to have warned that he would expropriate the property after the radio station reported that the local government had contracted machinery owned by the mayor to repair some streets.[8]

PROGRESS

33.              On January 30, 2004, the Twelfth Criminal Court acquitted Bruce Harris, then-Regional Director for Latin America of Casa Alianza (Covenant House), in a trial that began in 1997.[9]

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