Guatemala / Americas

  
Guatemalan radio journalist Álvaro Alfredo Aceituno López, shown here in a frame from a video posted to YouTube, was murdered on June 25, 2016. (CERIGUA)

Radio journalist murdered in Guatemala

New York, June 28, 2016 — Guatemalan authorities should conduct a thorough and credible investigation into the murder of the director of a radio station and bring all those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Two journalists shot dead in Guatemala, another wounded

Bogotá, Colombia, March 11, 2015–Two gunmen shot dead two journalists and injured a third in Guatemala on Tuesday, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Guatemalan authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the attack and ensure the perpetrators are held to account.

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Who is killing Central America’s journalists?

Widespread violence and impunity leave murders unsolved Amid the violence and instability caused by organized crime and corruption in Central America, Honduras and Guatemala have experienced an alarming rise in the number of murders of, and attacks against, journalists. Near complete impunity for these crimes means the cases go mostly unsolved and the motives unexplained.…

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Attacks on the Press in 2013: Guatemala

Journalists covering sensitive issues like crime and corruption faced a climate of increased intimidation and violence in 2013. One journalist was killed under unclear circumstances. CPJ continues to investigate to determine if the killing was work-related. Another journalist survived an assassination attempt, and the owner, staff, and website of the daily elPeriódico, which is known…

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Guatemalan government targets elPeriódico editor

New York, January 8, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns legal efforts in the past weeks by the president and vice president of Guatemala that are designed to stifle critical reporting by elPeriódico and its editor, José Rubén Zamora Marroquín. Over the course of the past year, the Guatemala City-based daily has published a series…

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CPJ

Defining success in the fight against impunity

For the second time this year, the U.N. Security Council took up the issue of protection of journalists. In a discussion today sponsored by the French and Guatemalan delegations, and open to NGOs, speaker after speaker and country after country hammered home the same essential facts: The vast majority of journalists murdered around the world…

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One journalist murdered, another attacked, in Guatemala

New York, August 20, 2013–Authorities in Guatemala should conduct a full investigation into the murder of a TV and radio journalist who was found on Monday after being reported missing for several hours, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Carlos Alberto Orellana Chávez was killed seven days after another journalist was shot and wounded…

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Guatemalan outlet harassed after critical reporting

New York, May 2, 2013–The Guatemalan news outlet elPeriódico has been targeted in a series of cyberattacks as it published stories alleging corruption in President Otto Pérez Molina’s administration. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to investigate immediately and put an end to the harassment.

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CPJ urges OAS not to weaken human rights system

Dear OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Ahead of the assembly of the Organization of American States on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to oppose any attempts to debilitate the regional human rights system. The failure of member states to preserve the autonomy and independence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its special rapporteur on freedom of expression would make citizens throughout the hemisphere more vulnerable to human rights violations and represent a blow to democracy in the Americas.

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A soldier patrols a lake in the town of Panajachel, where journalist Lucía Escobar used to live. (AFP/Orlando Sierra)

Displaced by threats, old life gives way to new

For seven years I lived in Panajachel, a tourist town on the beautiful Atitlán Lake in Guatemala. There, my husband, Juan Miguel Arrivillaga, and I started a family and the independent news outlet Anti Magazine. We also hosted a radio program on the local station Radio Ati.

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