elPeriódico de Guatemala ceases operations after denouncing political persecution

The Guatemalan daily elPeriódico announced on Friday that it will cease operations after denouncing political and economic pressures, beginning with the arrest of its directorJosé Rubén Zamora, in June 2022.

Zamora is accused of the alleged crimes of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail, charges that are nevertheless considered “political” by organizations defending press freedom.

Founded in 1996 by Zamora, elPeriódico had suspended its print edition, however it continued to operate digitally until its total closure.

“It has been ten arduous months of resistance and struggle. In November 2022 we ceased the printed edition and we focus on our digital edition. We thought we could adapt, transform and survive, but on the contrary, the persecution intensified, as did the harassment of our advertisers,” the newspaper said in a statement.

The latest edition of elPeriódico will be published on Monday, May 15, with a bitter message from the newspaper. “We can only thank all our readers and our clients for always believing in El Periódico”.

Before going into crisis after the arrest of its directorelPeriódico had a circulation of 30,000 copies and more than 80,000 subscribers, he explained to the voice of americaJosé Zamora, son of the director of the newspaper.

As of July 2022, the team was made up of 166 people, and it was reduced to 30 in December 2022, after the arrest of its director. “On Monday everyone loses their job,” lamented José Zamora.

“It is a terrible precedent for the region”

The announcement of the closure of elPeriódico has set off alarm bells in the Central American country, but also in the region. Dagmar Thiel, director of Fundamedios in the United States, considered that the cessation of operations of this newspaper “is a terrible precedent for the region,” adding that “it must be rejected by all those who defend democracy and freedoms.”

“It has been a victim of repression and persecution since last year with the imprisonment of its director José Rubén Zamora, who is detained in subhuman conditions where there is even a visible deterioration in his state of health,” Thiel told the VOA.

The journalist described as alarming the fact that not only the director and founder of the newspaper has been arrested, but also four of his defense lawyers, two of whom are in jail and charged with trumped-up charges to impede their defense.

Guatemala does not respond to criticism

The Guatemalan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the voice of america.

Thiel said that six journalists and six columnists for this media outlet have been persecuted, accusing them of obstruction and hindering justice “when really, what they have done is issue news, opinions, columns on the legal situation and this has been misinterpreted as an obstruction of justice.

The Guatemalan population has also been surprised by the news. Jorge Molina, originally from Guatemala City, told the VOA that “the closure of any informative media, due to government coercion, harms any democracy, especially fragile democracies.

For his part, David Sanchinelli, a local journalist described himself as “dismayed” with what they were experiencing. “It is unfortunate that this medium has stopped working, for me this is the end of investigative journalism in Guatemala.”

Organizations defending press freedom, such as the Inter-American Press Association (SIP), have warned of the deterioration in the region to practice journalism, and this includes democratic countriessuch as El Salvador, Guatemala or Mexico.

“Guatemala is falling into authoritarianism, just as we have experienced in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. It is a dangerous precedent against which the entire region must oppose,” Thiel points out.

[La corresponsal de VOA en Guatemala, Eugenia Sagastume, colaboró con este informe]

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