<\/p>\n
A country that wanted to change<\/h4>\n
According to the journalist Melissa Rabanales, there was a time of hope.<\/strong> The United Nations launched a commission in Guatemala, the CICIG, to help the country investigate corruption. People took to the streets and it seemed that everything was going to change. But Under Jimmy Morales' government, the commission was expelled and there was another setback.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For journalist Carmen Valeria Escobar, people in Guatemala have a name for what is happening: the \u00abPact of the Corrupt<\/strong>\u00bb"It is an alliance between politicians, wealthy individuals, and powerful groups who use state institutions to avoid accountability and to persecute those who denounce corruption.".<\/p>\n Rabanales explains it like this: \u00abIn the midst of a democracy, those who initiate this persecution are the institutions that administer justice.<\/strong>\u00bbThat is, the prosecutors and the judges. Escobar sums it up in one sentence: \u00abIn Guatemala, the persecution of journalism doesn\u2019t always begin with explicit censorship. Sometimes it begins in the courts.\u00bb<\/p>\n Agents from the Guatemalan prosecutor's office<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Rub\u00e9n Zamora f<\/strong>He buried the newspaper and for years exposed cases of corruption. That work cost him his freedom, and his newspaper had to close.\u00abI spent four Christmases and four birthdays in prison, two of them in total isolation.<\/strong>\u00bb"He says in the video. Behind that phrase are years without his family, without his home, and without being able to do his job.".<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Rabanales, in recent years More than 20 journalists from Guatemala have had to leave the country<\/strong>. They are not the only ones. Hundreds of people, including prosecutors, former judges, activists, and human rights defenders, have also left for fear of being charged and brought to trial.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At the Foundation for Justice we believe that, Without free journalists, no one can know what is happening or defend themselves against abuses.<\/strong> That's why we want these stories to be known and for these voices not to be silenced.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The video, funded by the Ajuntament de Val\u00e8ncia, can be seen on the Foundation's Instagram profile.<\/p>\nWhen justice is used to punish<\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nFour Christmases away from home<\/h4>\n
Leave so we can continue talking<\/h4>\n
Listen to these voices<\/h4>\n