FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN GUATEMALA

13 LAWS

16 PROJECTS

INFOGRAPHICS

[visualizer id=”5223″] [visualizer id=”5224″]
[visualizer id=”5236″] [visualizer id=”5235″]

COMPATIBILITY WITH THE INTER-AMERICAN FRAMEWORK
(Tripartite analysis)

[visualizer id=”4914″] [visualizer id=”4913″]
Regional Paper

This article deals with laws and legislative initiatives that affect, positively or negatively, the free circulation of ideas in Guatemala. Based on an analysis of the legislative framework and contextualized from a current perspective, it will seek to address the main trends of the last twenty years. Since the Constitutional Law on the Expression of Thought passed in 1983, and updated in the following years, freedom of expression has enjoyed robust legal protection in Guatemala. The inclusion of international treaties in the "block of constitutionality" and the crystallization of free access to public information as a fundamental human right within the Political Constitution have reinforced this protection. However, the poor implementation of these laws, a tendency towards criminalization in recent years and a complex social-political context are some of the reasons that threaten this freedom essential to democratic life. The context created by the widespread use of the Internet generates new challenges for the Guatemalan Congress. Worrying issues such as cybercrime are gradually finding their way onto the parliamentary agenda, and with them growing tensions over the scope of freedom of expression.