Guatemalan journalist Jose Ruben Zamora faces 40 years in prison

Jose Ruben Zamora, who has reported dozens of investigations into the Guatemalan government, faces 40 years in prison.

Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, founder and president of El Periodico newspaper, talks with the media after attending his court hearing in Guatemala City, Guatemala, December 8, 2022
Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora, founder and president of El Periodico newspaper, talks with the media after attending a court hearing in Guatemala City on December 8, 2022 [Josue Decavele/Reuters]

What does Jose Ruben Zamora’s arrest signify for Guatemala’s crackdown on dissent? The journalist and president of Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico was arrested almost a year ago. He’s reported on 144 investigative pieces about corruption in the Guatemalan government, led by President Alejandro Giammatei. Now he’s potentially facing 40 years in prison for what Guatemala’s government says is money laundering. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called Zamora’s detention “unwarranted”. And many government critics are saying this is part of a broader crackdown on anyone working to uncover corruption.

In this episode: 

  • Jose Carlos Zamora (@jczamora), son of Jose Ruben Zamora and a Guatemalan journalist

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K Li and our host, Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Tim St Clair mixed this episode.

Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Source: Al Jazeera

Advertisement