IAPA has repudiated the judicial measure that prohibits reporting one of the presidential candidates in Guatemala

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) on Friday expressed its conviction by a court order banning the newspaper the newspaper Guatemala to publish information on a candidate for the presidential election. The organization felt that this measure was part of a political strategy to censor and intimidate the environment.

Sandra Torres, candidate in the presidential election next June for the party of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), complained against six editors of the newspaper the newspaper this concerns the managers of the national sectors, sports, culture, photography, research and design, as well as the sales manager of the media. The lawsuit, which was dismissed in February, was overturned by aan appeal chamber that prohibits the newspaper from writing and publishing information about the candidate, while ordering protective measures in her favor.

SIP President María Elvira Domínguez said that "Unfortunately, in Guatemala, there is a history of public figures who improperly use in their favor laws intended for other purposes in order to gag the media that investigate and denounce or comment on corruption in the administration. public. "

Dominguez, director of The country of Cali, Colombia, sought the quashing of the court decision for violation of constitutional and legal principles relating to freedom of expression in the country.

The chair of IAPA's Committee on Freedom of Press and Information, Roberto Rock, said the candidateorres "uses the law to censure criticisms that it does not tolerate and, by the way, the provisions of the Constitution and the law on the issue of thought are ignored".

Rock, director of the news portal The broken chair, from Mexico City, Mexico, added that "such decisions limit the work of journalistic exercise and seek to self-censor, only in electoral processes when greater transparency is required so that citizens can have the necessary information to make decisions or to choose with conscience. "

Calling for the 2008 "Law against feminicide and other forms of violence against women", Torres also denounced last April two prosecutors of the Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity ( FECI) of the Public Prosecutor's Office. The court that deals with these crimes has adopted precautionary measures in favor of Torres and forbids prosecutors "to approach, disturb or be intimidated".

In August 2018, another court ordered the director of the newspaperJosé Zamora has refrained from disturbing or intimidating Torres, first lady between 2008 and 2011. In 2014, a judge issued an order also prohibiting Zamora from contacting the vice president of the city. time, Roxana Baldetti.

SIP is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It is composed of more than 1,300 publications from the Western Hemisphere; and is based in Miami, United States.