Miami (January 17, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemns
a campaign of harassment by the government against several newspapers in Guatemala,
considering it a violation of the principle of freedom of expression, by calling
for local authorities to stop the harassment against the press.
The tense relations between the independent press and the Government of Guatemala
reached a high point last Wednesday, January 15, when the tax collection agency,
Department of Tax Administration (SAT), audited the Diarios Modernos publishing
company which prints the daily newspaper Nuestro Diario, demanding to take documents
from archives with them out of the building, which according to those affected,
violated Article 24 of the Constitution of the Republic which guarantees the
protection of archives. Later, a judge confirmed this and ordered the tax agency
not to take any documents from the company.
Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina,
warned that “during the last two years, the Guatemalan press has come
denouncing the existence of a government plan to harass and weaken the credibility
of newspapers. This situation has become worse because of the constant public
verbal attacks from the highest authorities who demeanor the informative role
of the press.”
Molina, director of the Dominican Republic magazine, Ahora, also questioned
the head of the collection agency, SAT, who attacked the press the same day
three local newspapers, Prensa Libre, elPeriódico and Nuestro Diario,
claimed that the incident at Diarios Modernos was part of a government plot
and constituted a violation of the Constitution.
Finally, Molina mentioned that during the IAPA mission to Guatemala in September
2001, President Alfonso Portillo signed and committed himself to respect the
Declaration of Chapultepec, containing ten principles on freedom of the press,
among which states “that the media and journalists should neither be discriminated
against nor favored because of what they write or say.”
