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Virtual Engagement Session | Perseverance in the Face of Repression: A Conversation with Guatemalan Journalist José Rubén Zamora
Background
In July 2022, the founder and former editor of independent Guatemalan newspaper elPeriódico, José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, was arrested and charged with financial crimes. ElPeriódico had long reported on corruption cases involving Guatemalan politicians and business leaders, and Mr. Zamora had faced serious threats for decades as a result of his investigative reporting.
His arrest and criminal trial have drawn international concern about the criminalization of journalists and the broader efforts to intimidate and silence those exposing government corruption, in Guatemala and across the region. In October 2024, after more than 800 days in prison, an appeals court granted Mr. Zamora provisional release to house arrest while his trial continues.
The Vance Center has represented Mr. Zamora in proceedings before regional and international human rights bodies, including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, since fall 2022. We have joined numerous other organizations in publicly condemning flaws and delays in the trial proceedings through public statements, amicus brief filings, and other advocacy efforts.
As threats to press freedom intensify across the Americas and around the world, we had the rare opportunity to speak with Mr. Zamora about the status of his case, his time under house arrest, evolving threats to press freedom, and the future of anti-corruption efforts in Guatemala.
Note: In March 2025, a court reversed the earlier decision granting substitutive measures and ordered Mr. Zamora back to jail. He was remanded in custody on March 10 and remains in prison. The Vance Center joined nine other organizations in submitting an amicus brief to Guatemala’s Supreme Court arguing that the return to prison violates Mr. Zamora’s fundamental rights and urging the Court to grant an appeal allowing him to return to house arrest.
Our Speakers
- José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, Award-winning journalist, Founder and former editor of elPeriódico
- Jaime Chávez Alor, Associate Executive Director, Vance Center
Key Takeaways
In Guatemala, those who stand up against corruption and human rights violations often become targets of criminal investigations. Members of corrupt alliances that have dominated the country for decades frequently use the legal system to retaliate against activists, journalists, prosecutors and others who threaten their power. While occasional moments of progress have sparked hope, we are in a period of global regression on human rights, marked by the disintegration and silencing of civil society and deepening polarization. Corrupt actors are only too eager to exploit these dynamics.
Mr. Zamora has faced decades of violent threats, attacks, and attempted intimidation in connection with his reporting, and has long understood that imprisonment was a likely consequence of his work. From his arrest through his trial and detention, his fundamental rights have been consistently violated. He was denied due process and a fair trial, and the conditions of his detention have been egregious – leading to significant declines in his health over more than 800 days in prison.
Structural challenges. Guatemala’s Public Ministry has a well-documented pattern of using targeted criminal investigations to enshrine impunity and silence dissent, enabled by members of the judiciary that have failed to uphold their responsibility to judicial independence. Notably, a small group of courageous judges have acted with integrity in Mr. Zamora’s case. In return, they have faced criminal charges themselves.
The international community plays a critical role. Regional and international support for an independent judiciary – a central focus of the Vance Center’s Institutional Integrity program – is essential for the brave judges upholding the rule of law in Guatemala. International engagement is also fundamental in both advancing Mr. Zamora’s case and achieving long-term reform in Guatemala. In collaboration with a network of civil society organizations, the Vance Center has activated regional and international accountability mechanisms to ensure Mr. Zamora sees justice at the international level, even as it seems out of reach in Guatemala. These efforts were instrumental in securing his temporary release from prison to house arrest in October 2024 and in raising public awareness about how the legal system is being used to undermine press freedom in Guatemala.
Combating eroding democracy will take a global effort. Mr. Zamora emphasized that fighting to defend human rights requires local and international alliances to understand the tactics used to erode democratic systems and to support one another in resisting them. He pointed ahead to 2026, when Guatemala is scheduled to hold elections for positions including Attorney General and constitutional judges, as a potential chance to regain some independent institutional leadership and push back against systemic corruption.
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About Our Work
The Vance Center has worked extensively on Mr. Zamora’s case since 2022. Notable developments include:
- In May 2024, submitting a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights outlining ongoing violations of his rights resulting from his continued detention. The petition seeks to obtain reparations for the human rights violations committed by the Guatemalan state in this case.
- In August 2023, filing a complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of the case. In its opinion, the Working Group found that Mr. Zamora’s detention was arbitrary and violated international law and stated that he should be released immediately. This opinion was referenced during Mr. Zamora’s October 2024 hearing, which ended in his release from prison to house arrest, where he remained until March 2025. We continue regularly updating the Working Group on developments in the case.
- Most recently, we coordinated with nine other international organizations to submit an amicus brief to the Guatemalan Supreme Court, referenced above.
Read more about our work on Mr. Zamora’s case here.
Your support for the Vance Center will enable us to continue strengthening our vital work to support journalists like Mr. Zamora and justice operators who have been criminalized for doing their jobs. The Vance Center team devotes significant time to progressing these cases with the Inter-American Commission and United Nations, calling for the dismissal of charges and his conditional release. These cases are also emblematic for the region, with the potential to set important precedents for holding state actors accountable when they persecute justice operators and confronting impunity.