By Alejandro Martínez
This past weekend, Guatemala’s highest elected officials, President Otto Pérez Molina and Vice President Roxana Baldetti withdrew two criminal complaints they filed in December – one for blackmail and contempt, the other for violence against women – against José Rubén Zamora, editor of the newspaper elPeriódico.
After consulting with their attorneys, Pérez Molina and Baldetti told journalists on Jan. 10 that they would drop their criminal complaints against Zamora. Both officials said they would transfer their complaints to an Honor Tribunal, which deals with issues related to freedom of expression, elPeriódico reported.
At the end of last year, Pérez Molina accused Zamora of coercion and contempt after the journalist allegedly tried to blackmail him to $1.5 million. As a result, a Guatemalan court prohibited Zamora from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts.
Also last month, Baldetti brought charges for psychological damage against Zamora through a court for crimes against women. Zamora received an order that prohibited him from “disturbing or intimidating” or approaching the vice president.
Zamora spoke out against both complaints, calling them an attempt to restrict his freedom of expression and saying he would rather go to prison than abandon his criticisms of Pérez Molina and Baldetti. Zamora countersued last week, accusing both officials of abuse of power and saying that the Guatemalan Constitution protects his right to criticize them.
Zamora told Spanish newspaper El País that the complaints are the result of the nation’s militarization since Pérez Molina, a retired general, had come to power.
“This judicial aberration demonstrates that the president is very badly advised,” Zamora told El País.
“The complaints included crimes that no longer exist, like contempt. Guatemala has returned to the militarization era. The president’s lawyers are military officers first, and lawyers second – they studied law while they were in military service – and they’ve given way to their mental notions on command and obedience.”
According to El País, the orders prohibiting Zamora from leaving Guatemala and to not approach Baldetti have been rendered null.
Zamora’s elPeriódico has been a persistent critic of Pérez Molina’s government. The newspaper reported extensively last year about accusations of corruption and illegal enrichment by various people and family members close to Baldetti.
The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) recently announced that it will send an international mission to Guatemala in February to evaluate Zamora’s case and the outlook for the country’s press.
This article was translated by human rights investigator and journalist, Patrick Timmons. Follow him on Twitter @patricktimmons
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
