On July 29^th of this year, José Rubén Zamora, a prominent journalist and vocal critic of current Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei, was arrested and thrown in jail on charges of “money laundering” and “blackmail.” Mr. Zamora’s home and newspaper known as “El Periódico” were raided by the authorities, and El Periódico’s bank accounts were frozen, leaving Mr. Zamora unable to pay his staff. Mr. Zamora has since been held in the Mariscal Zavala military prison in Guatemala awaiting trial and has claimed that he is being unlawfully held by the Giammattei administration as a political prisoner due to his investigations into corruption allegations against Mr. Giammattei and his allies.

Mr. Zamora is not the first journalist to be threatened under the Giammattei administration; investigative reporter Juan Bautista Xol’s home was raided by the authorities last October, and another prominent journalist and investigator of corruption, Juan Luis Font, had to flee the country in March due to accusations of money laundering. According to a survey conducted by the Guatemalan Press Association, there have been 350 attacks against the press in Guatemala since Mr. Giammattei’s inauguration as president in 2020. These obvious attacks against the free press have grave consequences for Guatemalan democracy. A country once seen as a beacon of democracy throughout Central America following years of military dictatorships and a brutal civil war that ended in 1996, fears that Guatemala is slipping into authoritarianism are growing among many Guatemalans and the international community.

A single attack against the press in any democracy is an indicator of democratic backsliding; the fact that there have been hundreds of reported attacks against the press in Guatemala during President Giammattei’s administration thus far proves how dangerous the current state of democracy is in the country. Journalists are not the only ones in peril; it has also been reported that two dozen prosecutors and judges have fled the country due to threats from the government, and many others have been arrested. President Giammattei has stacked the judicial system with his allies in order to ensure that anyone who is critical of his government is sent to prison and to keep himself from being investigated or punished for his actions. Current Attorney General María Consuelo Porras is a strong Giammattei ally and has given journalists lengthy and unjust sentences for speaking out against the government. In 2006, former president Óscar Berger worked with the United Nations to establish the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, also known as CICIG.

This commission aims to help fight corruption throughout the government by providing unbiased, international prosecutors who work with local prosecutors to investigate and indict anyone accused of corruption. The commission helped bring corruption charges against former president Otto Pérez Molina. CICIG receives most of its funding from the United States government, which has become highly politicized in recent years as certain Guatemalan politicians and businesspeople hired lobbyists to scale back on funding for the commission.

CICIG was eventually expelled from the country by former president Jimmy Morales due to lack of funding, and the United States government, especially under former president Donald Trump who was in office at the time of the expulsion, has remained silent on the issue. The expulsion of CICIG along with blatant attacks against the free press in Guatemala leaves many concerned that the upcoming presidential election may be rigged, which will solidify Guatemala’s status as an authoritarian regime. The Constitutional Court of the country blocked Thelma Aldana, a former attorney-general who worked with the CICIG, from running for president in 2019. While President Giammattei’s current approval rating is only nineteen percent according to a Gallup poll, he remains popular with elites in the country, and his recent actions leave many citizens scared to critique him.

The horrific and unjust violence that is being perpetuated against journalists and any dissidents of President Giammattei has grave consequences for Guatemalan democracy, and action needs to be taken by the international community to ensure that the people of Guatemala are protected. As the United States has historically been involved in Guatemalan politics, the government of the United States has the greatest responsibility to denounce the actions of President Giammattei and advocate for the restoration of the CICIG to fight corruption in the Guatemalan government and ensure democratic ideals are upheld. The United States and other allies could also withhold aid until the President Giammattei and the Guatemalan government prove that they are not weaponizing the judicial system and are allowing the press to report freely.

The United Nations should also conduct investigations into the wrongful imprisonments of journalists and judges throughout Guatemala and provide funding for the restoration of CICIG. Though it is the biggest economy in Central America, Guatemala still relies heavily on international support for both its economy and government, so any kind of international condemnation has the potential to greatly affect President Giammattei and his allies and force them to change their actions. With an upcoming election, it is integral that the United States, United Nations, and international community act soon in order to ensure that President Giammattei feels that he cannot interfere in the election and abide by democratic ideals.

Though unstable in the past, Guatemala has exemplified how a stable democracy can boost economic growth and create a better standard of living for all citizens. The actions of President Giammattei and his allies against journalists and anyone who questions his decisions have the potential to erase all of the progress Guatemala in the years since the civil war. It is therefore integral that the international community, especially the government of the United States, condemn the actions of President Giammattei and protect democracy and the right to free speech in Guatemala.