The president of the newspaper El Periódico, critical of the president of Alejandro Giammattei, is arrested in Guatemala

The journalist José Rubén Zamora Morroquín, president of the Guatemalan newspaper The newspaper He has been arrested this Friday, reported the Public Ministry of that country, arguing an investigation against him for various crimes, including money laundering, influence peddling; proposition and conspiracy to launder money.

Rafael Curruchiche, Section Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, said in a video on Twitter that the arrest warrant against Morroquín —critical of the government of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei— was issued by a competent judge after allegedly finding various pieces of evidence. of the crimes for which he is being investigated.

The arrest against Zamora occurs after his residence was raided. The media outlet was also raided and the workers who were at the site were kept “isolated,” according to reports. The newspaper.

Human rights organizations have called for “respect for due process guarantees,” as Juan Pappier, a senior investigator at Human Rights Watch, indicated on his Twitter account.

“We demand that its guarantees of due process be respected. The Public Ministry of Guatemala cannot abuse the confidentiality of the criminal process to unduly limit transparency or restrict the right to defense,” said Pappier.

Prosecutor Curruchiche, for his part, called for calm in the media and indicated that the arrest of Zamora is not “because of his status as a journalist, but as a businessman.”

El Periódico has denounced that this occurs after threats from Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who is sanctioned by the United States, which accuses her of “dismantling anti-corruption efforts” in Guatemala.

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