Renowned Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora considered a “prisoner of conscience” by international organizations, said Friday that Latin America’s political and economic elites view journalism as a “subversive exercise” and impose severe punishments on those who practice it.
Speaking virtually from Guatemala City, where he is under house arrest after spending nearly three years in prison, Zamora addressed the midyear meeting of the Inter American Press Association in Miami to denounce what he described as the region’s lack of commitment to freedom and justice.
“Our elites have never embraced them in any Latin American country,” he said. “They are people who have no tolerance or respect for opposing opinions. What they seek is a single discourse, a monologue, and if not, they easily sentence you to imprisonment, burial, or exile,” he added.
According to Zamora, ruling classes “throughout Latin America do not want journalists,” but rather “propagandists” and “simple servants.” “They see journalists as a subversive exercise, and that is why their work goes against the current and always involves high risks,” he said.
Zamora, 69, founder of the now-defunct newspaper El Periódico, was arrested in July 2022 on money laundering charges. According to human rights groups, his arrest was a setup intended to silence him over his corruption allegations against then right-wing President Alejandro Giammattei, who governed from 2020 to 2024.
Since February 12, Zamora has been serving house arrest, a benefit he had already received in 2024 but which was later revoked at the request of prosecutors.
The accusations against him were brought by the Attorney General’s Office led by Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union. They accuse her of corruption and of undermining democracy through actions against journalists, social leaders, and former anti-corruption officials, some of whom are now in exile.
Porras is currently seeking a third term as attorney general. At the IAPA meeting, Zamora also recounted the persecution and threats he has suffered, as well as the terrible conditions he endured in prison. “I was a living corpse, witnessing my own agony,” he said. A court sentenced him in June 2023 to six years in prison for money laundering, but the sentence was overturned and the trial must be repeated.
