Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the August 31 police attack
on Guatemalan journalists covering the eviction of peasants from a ranch
in the southern department of Retalhuleu. The police operation ended
with several deaths and scores of injuries.
Guatemalan police attacked and threatened at least eight journalists
reporting on the eviction, which involved hundreds of peasants who had
occupied the Nueva Linda ranch, according to local news reports. The
attacks came after the journalists witnessed police killing several
peasants, those reports said. The police also confiscated their cameras
and video equipment. When several journalists tried to recover their
equipment, police threatened them, fired shots into the air, and launched
tear gas grenades at them, news reports said.
According to local news reports, the journalists who were attacked included
Mario Morales, a reporter, William Meoño, a photographer, and Marvin
Guillén, an assistant, who work for the Guatemala City-based daily
Nuestro Diario; Edward Morales, a cameraman with the TV channel
Guatevisión; Fredy Rodas, a reporter with the Guatemala City daily Prensa
Libre; Mynor Toj and Luis Romero, reporter and cameraman, respectively,
with regional cable channel Cable DX; and Gerardo Montenegro, a freelance
photographer. Both Edward Morales and Rodas told CPJ that all of the
journalists were carrying press credentials and press jackets. Journalists
have yet to recover their equipment, including tapes on which they recorded
the killings.
As Your Excellency knows, your government is bound by Article 35 of
the Guatemalan Constitution to guarantee society's right to freedom
of expression and the right to information. In this case, the police
response was not intended to preserve public order, but to suppress
coverage that exposed police officers' own actions.
As a nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide,
we urge your government to carry out a thorough and prompt investigation
into the attack and prosecute those responsible. This is an appropriate
opportunity for the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Journalists
and Trade Unionists to demonstrate its commitment to investigate such
attacks.
We call on your government to ensure that law enforcement personnel
do not interfere with news coverage. And we urge that journalists who
request police protection be provided with adequate security.
These police actions have had a chilling effect on all Guatemalan journalists.
We respectfully request you investigate this matter, and we look forward
to your response.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
