By Sofía Menchú
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – The Guatemalan government has arrested a well-known local journalist for money laundering and blackmail, according to a prosecutor in charge of the case, a move that has sparked outrage among human rights activists.
Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, an outspoken critic of the government, arrested Friday night, said on social media Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), after police raided his home and workplace earlier.
Speaking from a mobile phone in a video uploaded to Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) on Saturday through a reporter for the local newspaper Prensa Libre, Zamora said he will go on hunger strike as a sign of rejection of his persecution.
An attorney for Zamora responded to a request for comment.
Zamora, 65, founded the newspaper elPeriódico in 1996, a medium that stands out for its investigations that have several cases of government corruption.
“I need to make it clear that the arrest has nothing to do with his quality as a journalist, but with an imaginable act of money laundering in his capacity as a businessman,” Curruchiche said.
A deputy prosecutor of the FECI, Samari Carolina Gómez Díaz, was also arrested for her alleged participation in the crime of disclosure of confidential information, related to Zamora, Curruchiche added.
“This is a political persecution. I guess there will have to be a conspiracy,” Zamora said Friday as he made his way to court, guarded by police. He was scheduled to appear before sentencing Saturday afternoon.
Curruchiche himself was included this month on the so-called Engel list, a list that names those the U. S. government considers “corrupt and undemocratic” actors in the region.
Zamora’s arrest came amid a crackdown on prosecutors, judges, human rights activists, journalists and opposition leaders through the FECI, created to take over investigations through the later ousted UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (COMISIÓN).
At least five Guatemalan hounds from other media are lately in exile. More than a dozen former FECI prosecutors, judges and human rights activists have fled Guatemala following court proceedings and arrest warrants issued against them through the FECI.
Guatemala’s chambers of commerce, the national human rights watchdog and human rights organizations condemned Zamora’s arrest.
The administration of President Alejandro Giammattei has ruled on the case.
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