José Rubén Zamora was born on August 19th 1956. He is the founder of 2 of Guatemala's most important newspapers, Siglo Veintiuno (21st Century) in 1990 and El Periódico (The Newspaper) in 1996. He has generated great controversy in his role as editor-in-chief of both newspapers, and continues in that role with the latter today.
Early career
He began working as a reporter in La Hora (The Hour), a newspaper owned by his family, when he was 17. After graduating in industrial engineering and business administration he founded a news and production company in 1986 before beginning Siglo Veintiuno 4 years later.
Siglo Veintiuno
Very quickly he and his staff were harrased, including receiving death threats and being attacked. He came into particularly sharp conflict with the government of Jorge Serrano Elías, and after the latter suspended the constitutiom in May 1993 he also invoked censorship of the press. Siglo Veintiuno was allowed to continue publishing but bits were censored out. Zamora responded by temporarily renaming the paper Siglo Catorce (14th Century) and covered the censored pieces with blocks of ink. Copies were burnt on the streets. Zamora faxed the uncensored version to various places outside Guatemala which resulted in greater condemnation of the Serrano regime in the international community. Zamora's campaign against Serrano's suspension of the constitution is considered to be one of the main reasons why the latter eventually abandoned power and fled to El Salvador. In 1995, after an article linking certain high ranking military officers with organised crime, he was forced off the road and threatened. He refused to stop his investigations, and the death threats continued. In May 1996 Zamora resigned his post as Editor due to disagreements with the board of directors. 2 days later a grenade was thrown at his car while it was parked outside a restaurant he was eating at. Zamora believed this was an attempt to stop him go ahead with his plans to set up a new newspaper.
El Periódico
This newspaper first began on November 6th 1996, thanks to the donations of 125 citizens who supported Zamora's stand on press freedom. It was bought by the owners of Prensa Libre, Guatemala's best selling newspaper, in 1997. In June 2003 armed men entered his house, and briefly held him and his family as hostages for several hours. He was tied to a chair, and told that those from above wanted him to stop his negative reporting of them. Zamora decided to send his family into exile in Miami until the forthcoming presidential elections were over, but he stayed in Guatemala himself to continue his uncompromising coverage of the election.
Zamora's efforts have helped create a much stronger and more independent press in Guatemala. On October 15th 2003 he was awarded the Knight Award.
External link
Last updated: 05-26-2005 20:08:19
