He Exposed Corruption in Guatemala. Now He Faces Prison.
New York TimesJun 14, 2023
On Wednesday, José Rubén Zamora, a veteran journalist and the founder of one of Guatemala's oldest newspapers, El Periódico, was sentenced to six years in jail on money laundering charges.
Ruling that Zamora's sentence cannot be commuted, the court fined him $37.5K — the amount he is accused of having extorted from businessmen in exchange for refraining from publishing damaging information about them.
This sentence is another example of the deteriorating condition of democracy, freedom of speech, and the rule of law in Guatemala. Just days before a presidential election marred by the disqualification of opposition candidates, the country's elite, illicit networks have throttled efforts to silence those trying to hold the government to account.
Zamora has at last been convicted after systematically lying and coercing to gain notoriety and receive advertising. A democratic society certainly requires that the media are entitled to free speech. However, this right cannot serve as a shield for unscrupulous journalists who deliberately publish fabrications to misinform the public in a clear breach of the law and journalistic ethics.
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