Guatemala: Arrest of prominent journalist sparks outrage

Human rights activists, press freedom organizations and politicians expressed condemnation on Saturday after prominent Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin was arrested by police. 

Zamora Marroquin was arrested on charges of money laundering and blackmail. He was detained overnight, said Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity (FECI) on social media, after police raided his home and office earlier.

"I want to make it clear that the arrest has no relation to his quality as a journalist, but to a possible act of money laundering in his capacity as a businessman," Curruchiche said.

Zamora Marroquin, 65, founded the newspaper elPeriodico in 1996, an outlet famous for investigations that have revealed several cases of government corruption.

Speaking from a cell in a video posted to Twitter by a local journalist, Zamora Marroquin said he was beginning a hunger strike. "I haven't eaten anything nor drunk any water in 36 hours."

Journalists protested against the detention of Zamora Marroquin on Saturday, at the center of Guatemala city.

"Guatemalan authorities should immediately release and drop any criminal charges against journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, president of elPeriodico," said Committee to Protect Journalists' Advocacy Director Gypsy Guillen Kaiser in a statement. 

Human rights violations in Guatemala

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in June added Guatemala to its list of countries committing serious human rights violations. Other countries on the list include Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. 

"We're going through one of the worst moments" with respect to corruption, Jordan Rodas, the country's ombudsman told AFP news agency. 

Corruption in Guatemala is at unprecedented levels under an "authoritarian" government that punishes prosecutors and judges investigating organized crime, he added.

At least five Guatemalan journalists from different media outlets are currently in exile. More than a dozen former FECI prosecutors, judges and human rights activists have fled Guatemala over complaints and arrest warrants issued against them by the FECI.

The administration of President Alejandro Giammattei has not commented on the case.

tg/sri  (AP, Reuters)