Deporting Mario Guevara Would Send a Chilling Message
Guevara is a metro-Atlanta Spanish Language reporter.
Reporters in the US can be silenced and deported for doing their Job is the message from the pending deportation of Mario Guevara.
HAVANA TIMES – In response to reports that journalist Mario Guevara will be deported tomorrow, Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director Paul O’Brien said:
“The deportation of journalist Mario Guevara is a grave injustice and yet another attack by the Trump Administration on human rights, including press freedom, arbitrary detention, and the rule of law. Mr. Guevara, who was authorized to work in the U.S., was arrested in June while wearing press credentials and covering a protest. Before being deported, he had been detained arbitrarily since June, including in prolonged solitary confinement, raising serious human rights concerns.
“Mr. Guevara should have been released and able to return to his community and journalism work. Instead, his deportation not only is a violation of his human rights, it sends a chilling and dangerous message: that journalists can be detained, silenced, and deported simply for doing their jobs. It is yet another stark example of the escalating and overlapping attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and protest, and the rights of immigrants in the U.S. To be clear, governments are obligated to protect freedom of expression, including freedom of the press, but instead the Trump administration is trampling on these rights.
“The Trump administration is targeting Mario Guevara to silence and punish those who dissent, or those who cover it in the media. The already cruel immigration system is being used as a testing ground for widespread authoritarian practices under Trump, and now, with the deportation of Mario Guevara, it is being weaponized to silence a journalist. A free press plays a vital role in holding governments and other powerful actors to account. To do this, the press must be able to report freely and independently without being threatened, intimidated or punished.
“Instead, President Trump has attempted to create fear among the entire press community. No one should live in fear of retaliation for voicing their opinions or for their reporting.”