From violence to the courts: the new risk for the press in Guatemala, warns report

The latest report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) paints a grim picture for press freedom worldwide, a sentiment that resonates deeply within Guatemala. While the report notes that Guatemala has not registered journalist assassinations in 2025, it starkly warns that the situation remains perilous due to the instrumentalization of the legal system. This phenomenon, termed "lawfare," is identified as a particularly insidious threat, as highlighted by the case of José Rubén Zamora. His experience, involving imprisonment and multiple judicial processes, serves as a global example of how justice systems can be weaponized to stifle critical reporting. For Guatemalans, this is not an abstract concern; it directly impacts the ability of local journalists to hold power accountable. The RSF's findings underscore a worrying trend where legislative measures, often cloaked in national security rhetoric, are increasingly used to restrict information access, even in established democracies. The report's emphasis on the "legal" indicator as the most deteriorated globally, reflecting a "growing criminalization" of journalism, is particularly concerning for a region like Latin America, which RSF describes as being "immersed in a spiral of violence and repression." The Guatemalan context, therefore, is not just about physical threats but also about the systematic erosion of democratic space through judicial means, a reality that local media outlets grapple with daily.

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the legal indicator is the one that has had the biggest drop during the present year, as a "growing criminalization" of journalism is evidenced.