Trade unions

The only journalistic union that exists to this day is the one representing the workers of Prensa Libre, but after a strong administrative readjustment in 2018 it lost strength and survives with scarce members.

In the 1970’s, the Sindicato de Medios de Comunicación Social (Syndicate of Social Communication Media – SIMCOS) was founded primarily by young people connected to guerrilla groups. Due to the context of the war, several of its members were attacked by the army. On November 16, 1979 founding member Jose Leon Castañeda was kidnapped, tortured and found dead in a street of Guatemala City. For this case, in 1981 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a resolution declaring that Guatemala had violated the American Convention of Human Rights. The union ceased its activities one year later.