English By Dalia Faheid Share on Facebook Print this page
For nearly three months Anastasia Mejía, a radio journalist and a member of the Maya K’iche’ indigenous group in Guatemala, has been under house arrest.
The director of local broadcaster Xol Abaj Radio and Xol Abaj TV, who covered protests over alleged corruption by the municipal Joyabaj government, was arrested September 22 as she walked down a street with her son.
When police stopped Mejía, they asked for her identification card but did not explain why she was being arrested, Dánae Vílchez, Central America correspondent at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told VOA. Instead, police asked their superiors how they should proceed and were told to take her to a police station. Two hours later, Mejía appeared before a judge.
Guatemala City, Guatemala – Cristina Valenzuela was one of the first to arrive. A well-known figure at protests against corruption in recent years in Guatemala City, she wore her iconic “Virgin of the Struggle” costume: a green veil, blue mask, and orange shawl.
The little cloth dolls always affixed to her protest sign called for President Alejandro Giammattei and other officials to resign – a popular refrain that intensified across the country as anger over corruption and inequalities erupted last month into anti-government protests that continue weekly.
“Corruption continues and is worse,” Valenzuela told Al Jazeera. “People have risen up again.”
Feminist collective members gathered outside the Ministry of the Interior on December 5, where Valenzuela joined their performance of “A Rapist in Your Path”, a feminist anthem against rape culture and state violence.