The president of Guatemala visits the released journalist José Rubén Zamora at his home

The Guatemalan president, Bernardo Arévalo, met with the released journalist José Rubén Zamora for two days after leaving prison in which he was imprisoned for more than 800 days without conviction.

The meeting was held on Monday afternoon at the journalist’s home, without calling the press and in an atmosphere “of frank and respectful dialogue with a focus on key issues for the future of the country,” said the Guatemalan presidency.

According to the government, Zamora shared his experience in prison for more than two years. The journalist has reported that he suffered humiliation during his imprisonment, which mostly occurred during the government of former president Alejando Giammattei (2020-2024).

The communicator remains under house arrest while the two proceedings against him are being heard.

“Both discussed country projects that contribute to the strengthening of democratic institutions, in particular, the role of journalism and freedom of expression in the construction of a more just and transparent Guatemala,” he said.

The presidency confirmed the meeting and sent a photograph to journalists in which Arévalo and Zamora can be seen hugging in the journalist’s room.

Both discussed the relevance of the journalist’s release “as an opportunity to end the political persecution in Guatemala and the release of those who still suffer from prison, the result of spurious investigations and arbitrary measures (by the prosecution),” he said in a message sent to the press.

Two cases against him

The prosecution accuses the 68-year-old journalist in two different cases, one of them for money laundering, where he had asked a friend to bank about $38,000 that, according to Zamora, were the product of a donation to El Periódico, the media outlet. of communication of which he was president. The outlet specialized in corruption issues and closed after the journalist’s arrest.

Zamora is recognized in the journalistic world for having presided over a media outlet that uncovered several cases of corruption in Guatemala.

Zamora’s defense has said that he himself did not bank the money because the person who had made the donation did not want to receive retaliation for financing the media. The money never entered the banking system.

The journalist was sentenced to six years for this case, but the sentence was annulled due to failures in due process. The court hearing that case gave him alternative measures to prison, but could not abandon it due to a second case against him.

In that second trial, the prosecution accuses Zamora of conspiracy to obstruct justice for allegedly lying in the first case against him. Another accusation of falsifying documents was added to him for allegedly not signing the immigration tickets he used to leave the country.

Following the accusations against Zamora, the prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against eight journalists and columnists who wrote about his case and investigated judges and prosecutors for abuses of power. All eight are exiled.

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