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It was in October 2017 that police arrested his colleague that Carlos Choc understood that it was becoming too dangerous for him to continue reporting.
Originally from the city of El Estor and a member of the Maya Q'eqchi community, Shoc, 36, earns a living by documenting the lives of Aboriginal citizens.
On May 27, 2017, he witnessed the violent crackdown on a protest in his hometown. Fishermen had erected a barricade, concerned about the pollution of the country's largest freshwater lake, Izabal Lake.
They believed that a nickel refinery at the Fenix Mine, on the shores of the lake, was to blame. Fenix belongs to the Solway group, headquartered in Switzerland, which claims not to contaminate the water. The government said the pollution came from agriculture and wastewater.
The riot police first fired tear gas and then used live ammunition. One fisherman was shot, another shot. The head of the local station, confronted by journalists, still denies having ordered his men to shoot. An investigation is underway, but no officer has been charged for two years.
"I was in the middle, riot police on one side, the people on the other," Shock said. "The shots went very close, even whistled. I had to throw myself to the ground. But I tried to document, I tried to take pictures, to take videos. "
Shock could record a murder that the ministers had initially tried to deny. A photo below appears to show officers carrying firearms. The police fled, leaving Carlos Maaz Coc's body on the tarmac. The mayor's house was then set on fire and the prosecutor refused the invitation of Maaz's widow to go to the scene, claiming that the environment in El Estor was too dangerous. He was left to the family to take away his remains, after four and a half hours of inaction.
Police apparently hold firearms behind Carlos Maaz on the floor
That afternoon, Shock began receiving calls from television stations asking him to confirm the murder. He went to the air to report on the scene. Later in the night, the threats began.
There were anonymous calls from people using foul language, asking him to come to meet them, then threatening to go home. Shock, a single father, worried about his young children.
A few weeks later, arrest warrants were issued against Choc and another indigenous journalist, Jerson Xitumul. The two men were also working on an investigation into the Fenix mine for the Prensa Comunitaria information site.
In June, the state prosecutor added his name to a list of fishermen accused of holding the staff of a company against their will during the blockade. The journalists say that they were not present during these detentions and that they do not know them. In May 2018, the company's lawyer included their names in a request for a link between this case and a separate request for "attempted femicide".
Seventy-five women and their children, who were trapped for two weeks inside the gated community where the miners live, lodged a complaint against the fishermen and the two journalists.
The company's request does not recognize their status as a journalist. The presiding judge and prosecutors repeatedly view Choc and Xitumul as trade unionists, even though they are not members of any fishermen's union.
Xitumul was remanded in custody, imprisoned for 38 days, and placed under house arrest. He stopped writing. On the advice of his lawyers, Choc was voluntarily presented to a judge in February 2018.
When he came out of the courthouse, the police were waiting to arrest him. But he was wearing his press vest and was carrying a camera. In the fray of other journalists, Shock escaped. He was taken in a car by colleagues and driven to the capital, Guatemala City.
"There is a lot going on in Guatemalan jails," he says. "Sometimes they say" someone has committed suicide, "but he did not commit suicide.With the information that I had, I was running a lot of risk.
For 11 months, Shock is hidden. During this period, he claims to have offered to appear seven times in court and that seven times his hearing was delayed.
He continued to write, under a borrowed name. He sold his motorcycle and his smartphone to send money home. Shock had to stay inside and could only talk to his kids via a secure internet connection.
In January of this year, during the eighth attempt, the Shock hearing took place. The prosecutor, with the agreement of the company, requested that the charges against him be dropped. The judge refused, asking for further investigations. The arrest warrant was, however, replaced by a monthly court signature order and a ban on the purchase of alcohol.
Solway says that an arrest warrant was issued against Shock because he had not presented himself at his first hearing. In a statement, the company said: "We do not intimidate any media and have never tried to silence any reporting on our activities."
Shock could return home. People are always looking for him, asking him to report their problems. But the threat of a trial remains.
"I hope it ends and when it's over, I can smile. I do not feel safe in El Estor.
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