GUATEMALA:
Journalists Face Threats
Over Report on Candidate
By Inés Benítez
GUATEMALA CITY, (IPS)
- "Where are you? Hurry
up, we’re waiting for
you!" barked the voice
on the telephone.
Guatemalan journalist
Enrique Castañeda had
just finished writing an
investigative article on
rightwing presidential
candidate Otto Pérez’s
alleged links with
organised crime, and
this was the first phone
call he received.
Castañeda and Hilda
Mérida, both journalists
for the newspaper El
Periódico, reported the
incident to the Human
Rights Ombudsman’s
Office, requesting
protection because they
feared reprisals over
their investigation.
They also asked the
Inter-American Press
Association (IAPA) for
protection, a copy of
the Oct. 27 complaint
says.
"The political timing is
awkward, but it would be
irresponsible to keep
silent. We are concerned
about our own safety and
that of our families,"
Castañeda told IPS.
The investigative
report, which El
Periódico decided not to
publish, reached the
conclusion that there
were links between Pérez,
of the rightwing
Patriotic Party (PP),
and a person suspected
of belonging to an
organised crime group,
Castañeda said.
The journalist said that
the anonymous phonecalls
were intimidating, but
were not explicit death
threats, and that he had
no way of knowing who
made them. Castañeda
handed over documents
and tapes to the
Ombudsman’s office which
he said proved the
conclusions of his
investigation.
His report, which was
seen by IPS, states that
"Edwin Alfredo Mendoza
Matta, one of the
persons who has been
indicated as having
links to organised
crime, has been a member
of the PP since Aug. 27,
2002, according to the
Supreme Electoral
Tribunal, and is one of
the financiers of the
PP."
In this Sunday’s
presidential runoff
election, Álvaro Colom
of the centre-left
National Union of Hope (UNE),
who won the first round
on Sept. 9 with 28
percent of the vote, is
running against Pérez,
who took 23.5 percent.
According to a poll
published on Friday by
the newspaper Siglo XXI,
Pérez is preferred by
52.6 percent of voters,
compared to 47.4 percent
who said they would vote
for Colom.
Gonzalo Marroquín, the
chairman of the IAPA
Committee on Freedom of
the Press and
Information, told IPS
that when he received a
copy of the journalists’
complaint, he asked the
Presidential Human
Rights Commission to
take precautionary
measures on their
behalf.
"Although we do not yet
have the details and
background of this case,
because of the turbulent
situation of political
violence we thought it
prudent to adopt
precautionary measures,
at least until the
elections are over,"
said Marroquín, who is
the editor of the
newspaper Prensa Libre.
The Guatemalan media
have paid very little
attention to the
reported incident.
Castañeda’s anonymous
phonecalls began on Oct.
24. He suspects that he
is being watched. Once
Mérida answered the
phone, and she also
received a threatening
message.
"We wanted to put on
record that this kind of
intimidation has arisen
because of our work. We
do our jobs, and we are
proud of doing so," said
Castañeda.
In response to
questions, retired
General Pérez said this
week that he is
completely against such
harassment, and asked
the authorities to
investigate the case.
"We do not support
threatening anybody,"
said the candidate, who
added that he hoped an
investigation would get
to the bottom of the
matter.
The election campaign
has been extremely
violent, with over 50
candidates, activists
and family members
killed. It has also been
marked by high levels of
verbal aggression
between the presidential
hopefuls, who have
exchanged insults and
denigrating remarks.
The non-governmental
Association for the
Study and Promotion of
Security in Democracy (SEDEM)
issued a communiqué on
Wednesday criticising
acts of intimidation
directed at journalists,
"who are being harassed
and threatened for
exercising their right
to inform and
investigate."
SEDEM called for the
case to be cleared up,
because "it weakens our
democracy even further,
particularly when we are
in the midst of an
electoral process in
which our authorities
for the next four years
will be chosen."
Other journalists have
also reported being
threatened during the
campaign.
In late August, three
reporters for the news
programme "Contacto
Informativo" on the
Satélite 16 cable TV
station, which is
broadcast from the town
of El Progreso in
Jutiapa, in the
southeast, were told
they would be killed if
they ever mentioned the
local mayor on air again
in their election
coverage.
And on Sept. 11,
equipment was stolen
from the Nuevo Mundo
radio station on Cerro
Alux, a hill on the
outskirts of the
capital, temporarily
interrupting their
programming, according
to the latest issue of
the magazine Sala de
Redacción.
In a communiqué this
week, the Association of
Guatemalan Journalists (APG)
criticised "these
practices, which we
thought belonged to the
past."
The APG deplored the
fact that El Periódico
had not published the
story by Castañeda and
Mérida, and demanded
that the authorities
"provide our threatened
colleagues with whatever
protection is necessary
to guarantee their
safety."
Alfonso Gumucia, a
journalist who
specialises in
communication for
development, said that
media coverage of the
campaign "has
emphatically
demonstrated which
political interests the
media support."
"Investigative
journalism is very
difficult to find in
Guatemala," he said.
"The media have not been
up to the task of asking
candidates the hard
questions, and instead
they have been
accommodating and given
them an easy ride."
Pérez has alleged that
Colom received financing
from drug trafficking
mafias, while the UNE
candidate has pointed
out that his rival was
an army officer during
the 1960-1996 civil war
that left over 200,000
dead, mainly rural
indigenous civilians.
With a population of 13
million, and an official
poverty rate of 51
percent (although
unofficial estimates put
the figure at around 80
percent), Guatemala has
suffered an increasing
spiral of violence,
involving youth gangs
and drug trafficking,
while organised crime
has penetrated state
institutions.
Analysts consulted by
IPS predict that the
abstention rate on
Sunday will be even
higher than in the first
round, when it was over
40 percent. |
