Press freedom is stifled in Guatemala ahead of an election
José Rubén Zamora, a graft-skewering editor, has been put behind bars
José Rubén Zamora, a Guatemalan journalist, has often exposed corruption in the Central American country. In 2008 he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by unknown assailants, before being dumped outside the capital. Some 15 years later, he is still being targeted. On June 14th, a court sentenced Mr Zamora to six years in prison for money-laundering and ordered him to pay a $40,000 fine. He was cleared of charges of blackmail and influence-peddling. The case is widely considered spurious. It is a worrying sign of eroding press freedom ahead of the first round of a presidential election on June 25th.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “No country for journalists”
From the June 24th 2023 edition
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