Miguel Angel Sandoval
“Hope in a better country continues”
In January 1996 I met Chepe Zamora. We talked about the recently signed peace and other current issues. I told him, Chepe, give me a column and he replied, when you start. 26 years have passed since then. Writing in elPeriódico became a demonstration that democracy in the country was on the right track and that signing the peace agreement made sense. Now I can’t say something like that. Peace is something more than a memory, its institutionality was destroyed, the objectives cancelled. Hope in a better country continues.
Democracy is in an intensive state, and only an energetic attitude from Guatemalan society will allow us to resume its best veins. In the days after the signing of the peace, I did a study for the UNDP on the institutions of democratic control. Upon rereading it, I see that expectations were not met, that they did not grow, on the contrary, today they are diminished, taken to their minimum expression. These are almost obligatory reflections before the closure, hopefully temporary, of elPeriódico.
The fight for democracy and social justice does not end, even if it becomes more difficult. The debate of ideas does not end with the temporary closure of elPeriódico. The fight for democracy, freedom of expression, justice and rights for all, are the currency of our actions and our writings. My recognition of the democratic spirit of Chepe Zamora and my best wishes for his prompt release.
