Guatemala

During this period a number of reports were made of threats and aggressive acts against journalists. Columnist and supplement editor for the daily Prensa Libre, Carolina Vásquez Araya, reported that she had been the victim of death threats after publication of an article on October 1 in which she denounced sexual abuse committed by the administrator of a cotton farm against the minor-age daughters of his workers in the department of Escuintla. Vásquez revealed that both she and journalist Ika Oliva, who made the case known through a blog, have received threats against their lives through e-mails, as several local media reported. The host of the program “Libre Expresión” on Cablevision Channel 14 in Nueva Concepción, Escuintla, Evaristo García Escobar, reported that his program was cancelled on August 17 after the mayor of a town threatened the owner of the channel so that his segment would disappear, according to a communiqué from the Center of Informative Reports about Guatemala (CERIGUA). On July 4, a photo journalist for the daily El Periódico, Luis Soto, was seriously injured during a confrontation between students and anti-riot police in Guatemala City, after a group of young peopletried to prevent classes from restarting in the normal schools and institutes taken in protest against a proposal for reforms in the teaching major, according to CERIGUA. Journalists Estuardo Paredes of Prensa Libre and Jorge Cente of Nuestro Diario were also injured. On May 8, the facilities were broken into and equipment confiscated of community radio stations Uqul Tinamit and Jun Toj, located in the municipality of San Miguel Chicaj, department of Baja Verapaz. Journalist Brian Espinosa was also arrested.