IACHR Calls for Investigation Into Murder of Guatemalan Journalist Emerson Dinael Colindres
Author: Felipe Chitic-Luis
September 23, 2026
HRRC condemns the killing of Emerson Dinael Colindres and calls on Guatemalan authorities to investigate his death with diligence, impartiality, and transparency. Authorities should ensure that those responsible are brought to justice and strengthen measures to protect journalists and communicators exercising their right to freedom of expression.
![El Palacio Nacional, Guatemala [Image credit: Sasha India/Wikimedia Commons]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f05ed1_ad3b631c4cf34f62b43fcc1efabe8dde~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_735,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/f05ed1_ad3b631c4cf34f62b43fcc1efabe8dde~mv2.jpg)
A man called Emerson Dinael Colindres was found to have been killed in Villa Canales, in Guatemala City on August 1,2026. Local news outlets reported the fact that he was the founder and administrator of Desverge Villa Canales, a local independent newspaper platform that reported on events affecting the area.
Local reporting identified Colindres as a man in his 30s who was shot near his home. Emergency responders arrived at the scene and confirmed his death. A report by the Guatemalan journalist Juan Victor Castillo Guatemalan journalist Juan Victor Castillo reported that personnel from Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor's Office processed the crime scene and collected evidence as part of the initial investigation.
Following Colindre’s death, Dsvrge Villa Canales announced that the platform would permanently close. According to ChapinTV, the platforms had been a source of local information for residents. As a result, its closure means that the community lost a local news outlet at the same time that it lost one of its journalists.
The IACHR Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression condemned Colindre’s murder on September 14 and called for a diligent, thorough, and impartial investigation. The commission urged authorities to identify, prosecute, and punish those responsible and to strengthen measures to protect journalists and communicators.
The IACHR’s statement adds an international human-rights dimension to a case that was initially reported by Guatemalan media as a local homicide. It extends its focus beyond establishing responsibility for Colindre’s death to the broader implications of freedom of expression and access to information.
A September report by Red Rompe el Miedo Guatemala documented 51 cases involving 73 attacks against journalists, communicators, and media outlets during the first half of 2026. The organization recorded threats, intimidation, physical attacks, digital harassment, criminalization, and restriction to access.
The IACHR’s Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression alerts that attacks against journalists and media professionals can highly restrict freedom of expression. Principle 9 of said declaration calls on states ability to prevent, investigate, and punish acts of violence against media workers and to provide reparations to victims.
The central unanswered question remains the circumstances and motive behind Colinder’s murder and whether those responsible will be identified and prosecuted.
For Colindres's community, the case also raises a broader concern about what happens when violence removes local journalists from the communities they serve. His death and the subsequent closure of Dsvrge Villa Canales demonstrate how an attack on just one journalist can also affect a community's access to local information.
Glossary
Condemned: A condemned person is someone who is going to be killed, especially as a punishment for having committed a very serious crime, such as murder.
Criminalization: the act or process of making a previously legal action illegal, typically through the enactment of a new law or statute. It transforms behavior that was once permissible into a criminal offense.
Digital Harassment: online Harassment refers to abusive, threatening, intimidating, discriminatory, or unwanted behaviour conducted through digital platforms such as social media, messaging services, email, online forums, or other internet-based channels.
Freedom of Expression: the right to say whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited.
Impartial investigation: A thorough and unbiased examination or inquiry into actions or events, often required in contexts of alleged international law violations.
Intimidation: to frighten or threaten someone, usually in order to persuade them to do something that you want them to do.
Media Worker: individuals who contribute to and support the news-gathering, production, or dissemination process.
Prosecute: to officially accuse someone of committing a crime in a law course, or (of a lawyer) to try to prove that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty of that crime.
Punish: to cause someone who has done something wrong or committed a crime to suffer, by hurting them, forcing them to pay money, sending them to prison , etc.
Threat: A suggestion that something unpleasant or violent will happen, especially if a particular action is not followed.
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