Jose Rubén Zamora Freed from Prison: “They want me to flee, but I’m here to stay”

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On February 12, a handful of journalists gathered at the gates of Mariscal Zavala prison and waited hours for the release of one of Central America’s most prominent journalists, José Rubén Zamora.

Zamora had been in prison for more than three years. Press freedom advocates let out a sigh of relief when a court order granted him house arrest. Of course, he still wasn’t free, but he was freer than before.

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That night, as Zamora stepped out of a white van to greet the journalists —colleagues— awaiting him, he warned that the authorities could revoke the order and send him straight back to prison.

According to the Guatemalan journalists’ collective No Nos Callarán, through 2025 at least 20 journalists had left Guatemala due to intimidation and judicial persecution.

A report by the Central American Network of Journalists, on lawsuits filed against individuals and organizations that speak out on issues of public interest, highlights how the law is used to persecute and criminalize journalists.

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Chief among them is Zamora. Other cases have received less attention but are no less flagrant, like Anastasia Mejía, a Maya K’iche journalist and director of the Xol Abaj radio station, who was prosecuted in 2020 for her journalistic work.

Zamora was released from prison amid a horserace for Guatemala’s highest judicial positions. He called on Guatemalans to “demand a clean slate,” so that none of the current officials would be reelected.

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A week later, José Ruben Zamora requested that the Guatemalan Interior Ministry cancel the Foundation Against Terrorism, an organization that has promoted the cases against him.

“They want me to flee, but I’m here to stay,” he said that day. “Guatemala is my country, too.”