Guatemala

During this period the state of press freedom in Guatemala has not been subject to any violent incidents, although there did persist isolated threats against journalists, mainly in the interior of the country. Meanwhile, the federal government is maintaining its policy of using official advertising to punish media that criticize it, principally the printed press. The country is just a few months away from beginning a new electoral process, during which there are always attacks and criticisms by government officials against the press. It is expected that the confrontation will be greater, given the criticisms that various sectors have made about the social programs of the First Lady – the only pre-candidate of the ruling party. While the confrontation between the press and the government has not increased, there continues to be the use of official media and spots on open television to deny what columnists and reporters are saying. President Alvaro Colom and such officials as the mayor of Guatemala City, and former president Alvaro Arzú, are always confronting and berating the media. Early this year Mayor Arzú waged a campaign with flyers containing lies so as to have people rail against the newspapers that were exposing corruption in the award of public transport concessions. The president and the mayor as well as other officials are using the spots that open television gives them to deny or discredit reports published by the print media. The most recent case has been that of the host of the television opinion program “Libre Encuentro” (Free Meeting), businessman Dionicio Gutiérrez, a critic of the current administration. In a meeting with businessmen in October, at which the president and his wife were present, he pointed out errors made by the current government. Several days later he announced his retirement from the program due, among other things, to an increase in harassment and intimidation and having received death threats. Reporter Marvin del Cid, of the investigative unit elperiódico, has received death threats and his home has been raided twice by individuals who have stolen his computers and documents relating to investigations he had been carrying out, with the authorities so far having failed to identify those responsible. Meanwhile, many news correspondents in inland Guatemala, mainly in some areas where there is a strong presence of drug traffickers, are finding themselves threatened if they cover news about drug seizures or armed clashes between drug cartels and the armed forces. There are cases of abuse in which officials cite the Law on Access to Information to delay giving information to reporters, despite the fact that the Constitution provides for free access to sources of information and that no authority may limit this right .