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H.E. Alvaro Colom
President
Palacio Nacional, Nivel 2
6 Calle entre 6 y 7 Avenida, Zona 1
Guatemala City 01001
Republic of Guatemala
Your Excellency:
Urgently, we call your attention to reports of threats and harassment aimed at two journalists, Danilo López, correspondent of Prensa Libre in Suchitepéquez and Oscar Perdomo, correspondent for Emisoras Unidas, in the same department. In view of the many attacks on Guatemalan journalists, including even murder, these two incidents require the close attention of your government.
In the case of Perdomo, according to CERIGUA and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, he was threatened with death if he did not stop reporting on the Mazatenango municipal administration. The cable company for which he reported, fired him after the mayor said the company would lose its license if it retained him. In the case of López, the Suchitepéquez department’s former governor, Leonor Toledo, threatened him with death if he did not stop reporting on corruption and incompetence in her administration.
These are only the most recent examples of a growing number of threats against our Guatemalan colleagues. In Coatepeque Mérez Mérida, a correspondent of Prensa Libre, was shot and killed in his home while working at his computer. Other journalists have been shot at, beaten, arrested, had their equipment confiscated and received threatening telephone calls. CERIGUA says such incidents are occurring at an accelerating pace. The assailants are sometimes local officials, or local police, or drug traffickers, or, in at least one case, a mob.
The Overseas Press Club of America, which has been defending freedom of the press around the world for almost seven decades, applauds your gesture last April in signing the Declaration of Chapultepec, as did some of your predecessors. At that time, you said, according to the Inter-American Press Association, “Freedom of the press is fundamental for the truth to emerge, a basic value for us to continue growing as a nation.”
While the journalists in Guatemala City would seem to be able to enjoy that freedom without fear of reprisals, their colleagues in other parts of the country are obviously are not. To see their peers threatened, beaten and even murdered makes it hard for even the most courageous journalist to think and speak freely. The “basic value” you spoke of is lost.
We note that you have created a special prosecutor for crimes against journalists and trade unionists. We hope that the special prosecutor and other offices of your government will do their utmost to protect Guatemala’s press and prosecute those who attack it.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Marco Antonio Cortez
Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Journalists and Trade Unionists
7a. Avenida 11-20 Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Republic of Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 20.68.73
Hon. Hugo Leonel Maúl Figueroa
Presidente
Corte Suprema de Justicia
61 Calle 7-70, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Republic of Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 30.03.90
Hon. Edgardo Daniel Barreda Valenzuela
Corte Suprema de Justicia
61 Calle 7-70, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Republic of Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 30.66.26
H.E. Francisco Villagran de Leon
Ambassador of Guatemala to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala
2220 R Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 745.1908
Ambassador Gert Rosenthal
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Guatemala to the United Nations
57 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Fax: (212) 685.8741
David E. Lindwall
Chargé d'Affaires
Embassy of the United States of America
Avenida Reforma 7-01, Zona 10
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 326.4654
Sra. Claudia L. Cruz
Editora
El Periódico
Fax: (011.502.2) 332.9761
CERIGUA
2a Calle 1-42, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 21.25.21
Asociación de Periodistas de Guatemala - Comisión de Libertad de Prensa
14 calle 3-29, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala
Guatemala
Fax: (011.502.2) 38.27.81
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