International
José Carlos Zamora, optimistic about the possible release of his father with Arévalo
José Carlos Zamora, son of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, imprisoned for more than 700 days, assured this Friday in Bogotá that they will continue to “demonstrate the truth and seek justice,” at the inauguration of the Gabo Festival, where he showed signs of optimism about the arrival of a new administration.
In the conversation ‘Journalism without chains’, Zamora denounced “arbitry delays” in the trial against his father and “psychological tortures” that he has received in prison: “these two years have shown us the worst side of humanity, but also the best.”
“My father’s arrest was a very clear message: anyone who denounced corruption could be arrested,” lamented Zamora, who reported the support received by the family and the media in these years “has been overwhelming in a positive way.”
The journalist founded and presided over the morning El Periódico from 1996 to 2023, with more than a thousand reports of corruption in the Government, including the scandals that gave way to the fall of the Government of former President Otto Pérez Molina.
For almost 700 days, Zamora Marroquín has been in prison in a prison located within a military brigade in the north of Guatemala City and still has three criminal proceedings pending against him to be resolved.
The change of administration in Guatemala and the arrival of Bernardo Arévalo to the Presidency “is something extremely positive,” since the new president “seems to have the will to do the right thing,” although “he reaches a totally corrupt State,” which makes it difficult for him to take action.
However, “the constant harassment of the press from the Executive has ceased,” something that helps journalistic work, although it continues from other democratic bodies such as Congress.
In this context, “the Executive is an extremely weak position,” so Arévalo “should take more actions and faster to uprot the corruption of the State.”
Recently, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that “Mr. Zamora’s arrest was the result of the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” so “no trial should be held.”
Zamora asked “that the hearings be held, that they take into account the UN opinion and release it.”
Zamora was with the Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos, the Salvadoran journalist Angélica Cárcamo and the director of the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (Flip), Jonathan Bock, who made an analysis of the risks of journalism in the region.
The situation in Colombia and the recent confrontation of President Gustavo Petro with the press and his attacks on the Flip, this was called “absolute nonsense” by Ronderos, who said that these are “perverse and insidious attacks that should not be endured.”
Central America and El Salvador were also the subject of analysis, regretting that “hostile scenarios” are experienced, in the words of Cárcamo, who, however, considered that in Latin America “it is the time when more and better journalism is being done.”
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?
This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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