5. Country Analysis: Guatemala

5.1 Political and Legal System

Guatemala maintains a presidential system of government, and the functioning of the political system is articulated around the three classical powers: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, along with several autonomous and control bodies with specific constitutional functions.

The President is elected by popular vote for a four-year term and immediate reelection is prohibited; the Executive is made up of Ministries and Secretariats that administer public policies, while the Congress of the Republic, which is unicameral, has exclusive constitutional authority over the presentation and processing of laws. For its part, the Constitutional Court exercises diffuse and concentrated control of constitutionality and the Public Ministry is recognized as having the power to direct public criminal prosecution.

Electoral processes are held every four years for the Presidential and Legislative elections, whose administration is the responsibility of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which regulates the registration of candidates, the organization of voting and the count; confidence and efficiency of the electoral system have been subject to debate and reforms in different periods, as will be seen later.

Territorial organization is decentralized through departments and municipalities, made up of Mayoralties and Municipal Councils elected by popular vote, which manage municipal affairs, although effective decentralization faces financial and institutional limitations. Overall, Guatemala has formal frameworks and institutions designed to guarantee democracy and the rule of law, but a set of challenges common to the region persists, related to judicial independence, transparency, accountability, and citizen trust in public institutions.

5.2 Freedom of Expression and Human Rights

Guatemala expressly recognizes freedom of thought and freedom of expression in its Political Constitution,⁷⁶ provided for in articles 35 and 36, which establish not only the capacity of every person to disseminate their ideas without prior censorship, but also the prohibition of all indirect restrictions on the exercise of this right.

These provisions are complemented by a regulatory framework that incorporates international human rights treaties into the constitutional framework, in accordance with the interpretation upheld by the Constitutional Court, which has repeatedly affirmed the prevalence of international instruments in matters of freedom of expression, information and press, by virtue of constitutional articles.⁷⁷ 44 and 46. The country has adopted relevant norms such as the Public Information Access

Law (Decree 57-2008),⁷⁸ which establishes active transparency obligations and procedures to guarantee the right of citizens to know about public management, as well as electoral and media communication legislation, which regulate informational pluralism and equity in the use of media spaces during electoral processes.

However, various academic studies and international organizations have noted that the practical effectiveness of these guarantees faces institutional challenges.⁷⁹ Among them are mentioned limitations in the application of information access rules, difficulties for the economic sustainability of independent media, and tensions between state actors and communicators that, at times, lead to a climate of mistrust or controversial legal proceedings. These situations do not represent a structural denial of those rights, guarantees and freedoms, but do reflect that the country has needs to strengthen protection mechanisms.

In Guatemala, judicial protection of freedom of expression and the right of access to public information is articulated primarily through the Constitutional Court, through the exercise of constitutional amparo, which proceeds in the face of acts or omissions that threaten or harm fundamental rights. Procedural regulations and constitutional doctrine regulate the Court's jurisdiction to hear amparos in sole instance or on appeal depending on the specific case, in accordance with what is established in the Amparo Law, Habeas Corpus and Constitutionality (Decree 1-86)⁸⁰ and the case law of the Constitutional Court itself.

The Supreme Court of Justice also participates in the protection of guarantees through the processing of amparos in first instance or in its corresponding chambers; its decisions can be appealed before the Constitutional Court. In practice, the distribution of competencies between both jurisdictions has been clarified through auto-agreements and interpretive resolutions of the Constitutional Court.

In the electoral sphere, the authority to protect rights related to freedom of expression in campaigns, access to media, and political advertising corresponds to the TSE. This body exercises jurisdictional functions in matters of political rights, electoral financing and advertising, as provided for in the Electoral and Political Parties Law⁸¹ and its Regulations.⁸²

At the administrative level, the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office (PDH) acts as a body for supervision and defense against acts or omissions by the State that restrict freedom of expression or access to information. Within its structure, the PDH has the Ombudsman's Office for the Right to Freedom of Expression, responsible for handling complaints, issuing recommendations and promoting protection measures for journalists and social communicators.

The practical implementation of the right of access to public information is governed by the Public Information Access Law (Decree 57-2008),⁸³ which establishes the obligated subjects, the procedures for requests and appeals, and active transparency obligations. Each public institution has a Public Information Unit (UIP) responsible for receiving and processing requests. General oversight of compliance falls on the PDH, through its Directorate for Access to Public Information.

Regarding personal data protection, Guatemala lacks comprehensive legislation and a specialized supervisory authority. Nevertheless, the Constitutional Court has recognized the protection of privacy and misuse of data under constitutional protection of honor and private life (article 24 of the Political Constitution of the Republic). This regulatory situation places Guatemala in a position of regional lag in matters of informational self-determination.

In the field of telecommunications and the digital environment, the Telecommunications Superintendency (SIT), a decentralized entity of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing, is responsible for administering the radio spectrum, technical and economic regulation of the sector and promoting free competition in telecommunications services, pursuant to the General Telecommunications Law.⁸⁴ The SIT does not exercise content moderation functions; its role is predominantly technical and oversight with respect to the digital ecosystem infrastructure.

Guatemala does not have a specific tax regime for digital services, but the study identified that the Tax Administration Superintendency (SAT) has implemented measures to tax with the Value Added Tax (VAT) electronic operations and services provided by digital means under the terms of the Value Added Tax Law,⁸⁵ and administrative provisions issued since 2021 on electronic invoicing and digital commerce.

Regarding the current state of freedoms in this area, it was identified that Guatemala has a multi-level regulatory framework for protection, since protection is normatively supported from the Constitution, the Amparo Law, Habeas Corpus and Constitutionality, as well as standards derived from the Inter-American Human Rights System. The Constitutional Court usually integrates in its reasoning the guidelines of the IAHRS, especially in relation to legitimate restrictions, democratic necessity and accountability for abuses of the right to inform. However, unlike other countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala does not have a legal response for the protection of the right to be forgotten.

In matters of freedom of expression, the Guatemalan legal order recognizes both the individual and collective dimensions of the right and the modalities of protected expression or subject to legal protection are established by law.

In practice, in 2023 a joint mission led by Freedom House together with ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Fundamedios,

Free Press Unlimited, IFEX-ALC and Voces del Sur, conducted interviews with 67 journalists, including several in exile, to analyze the conditions under which they exercise their work in different regions of the country.⁸⁶ In its findings report, the mission points to patterns of intimidation, judicial prosecution and digital violence that affect both the personal security of communicators and the ability of citizens to receive information freely.

According to the report, systematic harassment was observed on social networks, through coordinated campaigns of delegitimization or surveillance, which contributes to a climate that causes self-censorship among those who cover high-risk issues such as corruption or abuse of power.³ In this document, emphasis was also placed on the fact that State bodies, such as the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, face difficulties in providing a sufficient or effective response to threats to journalism; and, in general, to foster a safe space for fluid information flow.

Additionally, the Guatemala chapter prepared by Human Rights Watch also reported at least 120 incidents of aggression, harassment and use of criminal proceedings against journalists during the first seven months of 2023.⁸⁷ Among these incidents is the case of José Rubén Zamora, director of the newspaper elPeriódico, convicted of money laundering amid questions about the use of the criminal system to suppress the press.

Furthermore, a specific report on community journalism published by Freedom House in 2025 documents how journalists from indigenous and local media face other types of difficulties associated with inequality factors, such as structural discrimination, gender-based violence, legal threats and limited access to institutional protection mechanisms.⁷ These conditions seem to make the implementation of the rights provided for in the constitutional framework somewhat more complex, but also reduce the ability of these people to report in communities with less traditional media coverage, which could be weakening informational plurality at local levels.

The reports diagnose that, while there are guarantees and freedom in a formal sense and they are channeled through amparo procedures, a part of what occurs in reality visibilizes the barriers for concrete issues, such as journalism. In this way, the available inputs point to some challenges persisting for the right to communicate and the right to be informed to be effectively exercised in the environment.

5.3 Digital Environment

According to the most recent DataReportal report, at the beginning of 2025, Guatemala had approximately 11.3 million Internet users, which equals a penetration of 60.8% of the total population.⁸⁸

At the level of mobile subscriptions, consolidated data show that in 2024 there were about 20.65 million active cellular connections, equivalent to 113.3 connections per 100 inhabitants (this reflects the existence of multiple lines per user and a high degree of mobile connectivity).⁸⁹ Records from technical and market observatories also indicate a sustained process of 5G deployment: the Telecommunications Superintendency (SIT) held spectrum auctions aimed at 5G implementation (including blocks in the 700 MHz band and other ranges intended for mobile services), and operators who obtained rights in those processes have begun offering commercial 5G services or tests in urban areas, although commercial availability is still increasing gradually.⁹⁰

Mobile user experience reports (OpenSignal) show that dominant operators offer widespread 4G coverage and 5G experience is beginning to appear in coverage and availability indicators; in the most recent analyses Claro and other operators are among the providers with highest network availability in user measurements.⁹¹

Regarding the use of social networks, the Guatemalan digital ecosystem shows transversal adoption but with differentiated demographic profiles. DataReportal reported 10.4 million active identities on social networks in 2025 (≈56.1% of the population),⁹² and their technical files show that platforms like TikTok reach massive audiences among users over 18 years old;⁹³ the advertising planning tools of the platforms allow observing that TikTok and Instagram concentrate higher participation among young users (under 35 years old), while Facebook maintains a strong presence among older groups.⁹⁴

From the sociodemographic perspective relevant for interpreting the digital ecosystem, around 53% of the population lives in urban areas (projected data January 2024), which explains the concentration of most of the traffic and active users in the main urban centers of the country (Guatemala City, neighboring metropolitan areas and departments with higher density).⁹⁵

In fiscal and administrative matters related to platforms and digital services, Guatemala maintains a tax structure where Value Added Tax (VAT) is applied at a general rate of 12% and the tax administration has promoted electronic invoicing (FEL) and normative reforms (Decree 4-2019 and related rules) to modernize collection. While SAT has strengthened control instruments and electronic transaction recording, unlike other countries in the region Guatemala does not have such an explicit and differentiated regime (in legal and operational form) to require all non-domiciled providers of cross-border digital services to collect VAT from the final consumer through standardized mechanisms.