The President of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo de León, signed this Monday the Declaration of Chapultepec, an international agreement in respect of the free broadcast of thought, with which he pledged to respect the 10 principles on the freedoms of expression and the press that must govern a democracy.
During the signing ceremony, which took place at the National Palace of Culture of the Guatemalan capital, Arévalo was accompanied by a delegation of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) composed of José Roberto Dutriz Fogelbach, president of the IAPA; Gonzalo Marroquín, former president, and Carlos Lauría, executive director.
José Rubén Zamora, founder and president of the missing media media El Periódico, participated as an honorary witness to the firm, who was imprisoned for 812 days and is still facing several criminal proceedings in retaliation for his journalistic investigations. He was accompanied during the ceremony by his son.
“It is not a symbolic signature, but behind is the personal commitment and of my government to respect, guarantee and defend freedom of expression in Guatemala,” said Arévalo.
He added: Behind this signature is the personal commitment and commitment of my Government to respect, guarantee and defend the right to free expression.
The president of the IAPA, for his part, stressed that it has an extremely negative impact – that freedom of expression be punished.
What we want is understanding, open dialogue and public debate to build stability and democratic development in different societies in this way, said the president and CEO of the GREAT PRESS.
Arévalo was emphatic in ensuring that there is no democracy without freedom of the press, and there is no freedom of the press without democracy.
Advances
At the event, Arévalo de León also took a few minutes to praise journalist Zamora: “embodies the struggle and defense for freedom of expression” in Guatemala.
In this context, the president of the IAPA said that no media or journalist should be punished for spreading the truth proven and for issuing criticism of the public power.
Are we very happy for Guatemala. We see progress from the Government. There is an openness and a more conducive environment for the exercise of our work,” Dutriz said.
For its part, the Guatemalan government recalled that the Chapultepec Declaration was created in March 1994, in Mexico, during a hemispheric forum on freedom of expression.
The president took the opportunity to extend the message to other instances of his country. Do we need mayors with a democratic vocation. We demand judges to protect democratic rights and freedoms, and Members who guarantee and respect the free exercise of the press. And there is an urgent need for a prosecutor’s office (Public Prosecutor’s Office) to cease political and arbitrary persecution of journalists, he concluded.
Both the president and Zamora Marroquín have been prosecuted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, whose leadership, commanded by the Attorney General, Consuelo Porras, is sanctioned by the United States under corruption allegations.
This article has been translated after originally appearing in La Prensa Grafica