I left Guatemala on March 3, 2023, three days after Judge Jimmy Bremer, at the request of Prosecutor Cinthia Monterroso, during a hearing in the case of former president of elPeriódico, Jose Rubén Zamora, ordered criminal proceedings to be brought against six journalists and two columnists from the media outlet, including myself, for the alleged crime of obstruction of justice under the Organized Crime Law.
This occurred during a hearing in the second case brought against Zamora, who was imprisoned on July 29, 2022, and is accused of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The day after the ruling, I held a meeting with human rights organizations who helped me leave the country urgently. By the second day, I had a plane ticket.
I had no time to stop and think. During the day, I worried about grocery shopping and other urgent legal matters. At night, I said goodbye to my mother, who was 95 at the time, and told her a half-truth: that for my safety, I was going to live in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second-largest city. Her words still echo in my ears: “You’re right, those bastards are capable of anything, there’s no law here anymore,” she said between sobs.
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A few days later, perhaps because of the pain of knowing she would not see me again soon, my mother stopped recognizing me. Now, when I contact her by video call, she confuses me with her sister Margarita, who disappeared many years ago. Perhaps it is better that way for her.
I left my house in the early morning with a suitcase and a backpack. It seemed enough; at that time, I thought I would be away only briefly, while the emergency passed.
Passing through customs before boarding the plane, I was afraid. My last memory of that early morning on March 3 was seeing the lights of the houses getting smaller and smaller as the plane climbed into the sky. I said goodbye to my beautiful homeland with great nostalgia; it was perhaps a premonition of an involuntary and prolonged absence, of which I was not fully aware at the time.
When I arrived at the shelter, I felt supported, although the loneliness of having left my family, including my two teenage daughters, weighed heavily on me. I remember they explained that they would provide me with shelter for a month, but that it could be extended for two more months if the security situation did not change.
I smiled. I thought they were exaggerating. “I can’t spend more than a month away,” I said confidently. But the first month passed and nothing changed. Frustrated, I decided to ask for an extension of two months.
It was good to stay connected to Guatemala. Ramón Zamora, Jose Rubén's son, refused to give up after his father’s capture.
Against all odds, he put together a small group to form the digital newspaper elPeriódico after the print edition was shut down in November of that year. He asked me if, despite the adversity, I was willing to continue fighting to restore democracy in the country. Without thinking twice, I told him that I would take on the challenge of continuing to run elPeriódico in honor of his beloved, brave, and honorable father, who, despite threats, persecution, assassination attempts, and the prison sentence he currently faces, has fought to the end against acts of corruption committed during various administrations, especially that of Alejandro Giammattei.
Harassment and threats from online troll farms against us were a daily occurrence. By May 2023, the situation had become untenable. Ramón, too, was forced to leave the country after the Public Prosecutor’s Office attempted to issue an arrest warrant against him and his mother, Minayú. The hunt was not over. On May 15, 2023, we finally said goodbye to our readers, after criminal harassment and threats against advertisers to stop advertising in elPeriódico.
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That night, after we closed the last edition, I truly felt lonely. I finally accepted that I was in exile. It was then, during one of those many sleepless nights, that I quickly took stock of my situation: At the end of May, the extension to stay in temporary shelter was expiring. I had no money, only a little financial aid that a group of generous friends had collected the day before my departure in March. I had financial obligations at home, I was unemployed, and soon I would have nowhere to live.
I felt the despair of the unjust criminal persecution against me, which has never had any reason to exist. Then I received support from organizations, journalists, and a respected former columnist for elPeriódico.
Today, after more than two years away, I have learned to live with loneliness and to face the challenges that have come after I was forced to leave Guatemala.
When Bernardo Arévalo won the presidency in 2023, a small window of hope opened for me and other Guatemalans around me. I thought I would be able to return soon, but the forces of Attorney General Consuelo Porras reached a corrupt pact with deputies, judges, and magistrates to prevent the government from functioning normally at all costs.
Here I remain. I am part of the courageous team at eP Investiga, a media outlet where, despite harassment, we fight to act with irreverence in the face of abuse of power and corruption. Despite the difficulties, for more than a year we have refused to give up; I have not lost hope of returning to my country. Although Guatemala remains co-opted by rampant corruption, I think of the famous saying: No evil lasts a hundred years.
Julia Corado, a Guatemalan journalist with eP Investiga, has been in exile since 2023 due to persecution by the justice system.