Guatemala / Americas

Mexico City, April 16, 2025—A Facebook account named “Melvin Veum” launched a paid advertising smear campaign on Monday, April 14, that used CPJ’s logo to legitimize false narratives against Guatemalan journalist Quimy de León, director of independent news website Prensa Comunitaria and recipient of CPJ’s 2024 International Press Freedom Award.  The post featured two images…

Mexico City, April 15, 2025—Guatemalan authorities must investigate the killing of community journalist Ismael Alonzo González, determine whether he was targeted for his work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Friday, March 21, Alonzo was outside his home in the western city of Quetzaltenango when two unidentified…

Mexico City, April 8, 2025—Guatemalan authorities must investigate and stop the coordinated online smear campaign against journalist Nelton Rivera and ensure that he and his colleagues at Prensa Comunitaria and Ruda can report freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Since February, social media accounts known in Guatemala as “net centers” have…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other international organizations call for the immediate and unconditional release of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora and urgent guarantees of due process. Judge Erick García ordered Zamora’s return to prison on March 10, executing a appeals court order that revoked the journalist’s house arrest. At the hearing, García reported threats…

The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Monday’s court ruling to revoke the house arrest of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora and send him back to prison. “The decision to return journalist José Rubén Zamora to prison is a blatant act of judicial persecution. This case represents a dangerous escalation in the repression of independent journalism,”…

São Paulo, January 10, 2025—Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora could go back to jail this Monday if the country’s Supreme Court doesn’t agree to hear an appeal made by his defense, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. Zamora, 67, spent 813 days in prison, accused of money laundering, until he was granted house…

Mexico City, December 11, 2024—Guatemalan authorities issued an arrest warrant on December 6 for journalist Juan Luis Font on charges of collusion and passive bribery. Font, co-director of the news radio show Con Criterio, has been living in exile since 2022 and told CPJ the charges stem from an old case that authorities have repeatedly…

Twenty-four civil society organizations working in seven Latin American countries, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, released a November 2024 report titled “Impact of state censorship measures on the right to freedom of expression in the Americas,” which included information provided during the 190th regular session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in July 2024.  The press freedom groups work in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador,…

Less than a month after being moved to house arrest, a Guatemalan appeals court ordered journalist José Rubén Zamora back to jail on November 15, 2024. Zamora remains in house arrest while his lawyers and the Attorney General’s Office have appealed the motion, his son told CPJ. The decision is a new blow to press freedom in Guatemala. Zamora,…

The Committee to Protect Journalist and 18 other civil society organizations called on Guatemalan authorities to respect the independence of the judiciary at an October 18 hearing over the release of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora from pre-trial detention. The statement highlights a “deeply troubling trend” of criminalizing and intimidating human rights defenders, including Judge Rodolfo…