In honor of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, members of the National Press Club’s Press Freedom Team have interviewed journalists in exile living in the U.S. We will feature their stories this week to shed light on global press freedom issues.
Juan Luis Font, a Guatemalan journalist living in exile in the U.S., isn’t allowing his challenging circumstances from practicing the profession he loves.
Font left Guatemala on April 1, 2022, under persecution from the attorney general’s office against prosecutors, justices, magistrates, and journalists who were outspoken about corruption among government officials. Font said former Guatemalan communications minister Alejandro Sinibaldi is persecuting him, falsely accusing Font of accepting bribes for positive news coverage.
Additionally, Font said he’s being harassed by an organization called Fundación Contra el Terrorismo. This group defends Guatemalan army officers accused of human rights violations during the Guatemalan civil war that took place from 1960 to 1996.
But Font continues his work from the United States by putting on his popular ConCriterio radio talk show every morning, which is broadcast online and on Radio Fabulosa in Guatemala. Here, Font discusses the most important political, social, economical, and cultural trends in Guatemala. He also talks about the authoritarian politicians who have come to power in Central America.
“Exile can be a very hard and painful phenomenon in life, but it can also be enriching,” Font said. “I am so stimulated by listening to NPR, reading newspapers, watching the discussions on TV … I’m interested in my profession and I want to keep doing things.”
Font loves journalism so much he’s creating his fourth news product in his 33 years as a journalist: GuateNews, a news site for Guatemalans living in the U.S. Font also created ConCriterio, the ContraPoder weekly news magazine, and the “A las 8:45” television talk show. Font co-founded the prestigious elPeriodico daily newspaper with José Rubén Zamora, who has been incarcerated in Guatemala since July 2022 for his reporting.
Font estimates that around 23 Guatemalan journalists have been forced into exile. He said many of them live in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Washington. About 30 percent of these exiled Guatemalan journalists, he said, still have work related to journalism. But a few of them have left the profession, performing jobs such as running a parking lot in Los Angeles or performing food delivery around Boston.
Though he does not have current charges against him, Font believes he would be locked up if he returned to Guatemala. This, he said, is because Guatemala’s justice system and its attorney general’s office are controlled by people who oppose democracy and who could find a judge to issue a detention order and incarcerate him indefinitely.
Font said that many Guatemalans are aware of his exile. Even if they don’t share the will of the former government and the legal institutions persecuting him, Font said that many view his exile as normal. This is because Guatemala has been an unstable society that does not have democratic principles in its personality, he said.
Font was at first inspired to become a journalist because he found politics fascinating. But his interest in politics led to journalism, where he enjoyed the journalistic process — talking to sources, gathering and verifying information, and explaining to news consumers the issues of the day.
In addition to the U.S., Font has also lived in exile in France and Mexico. While living in exile can be stressful due to one’s uncertain migratory legal status, Font said he’s been lucky most of the time. Many people have offered help to him and he’s been able to continue reporting and keep his opinion alive in Guatemala.
“I haven’t stopped [doing my radio show] even one single day,” Font said. “I’m very proud of having been able to keep doing my job for all this time.”