José Rubén Zamora

José Rubén Zamora Marroquín (born August 19, 1956) is an industrial engineer, entrepreneur, and the founder of three Guatemalan newspapers: Siglo Veintiuno ("21st Century") in 1990, El Periódico ("The Newspaper") in 1996, and Nuestro Diario ("Our Daily") in 1998. He has been threatened and attacked on several occasions for his work, including being held hostage in his home in 2003 and being kidnapped and beaten in 2008.

Zamora has received numerous international prizes and distinctions. He was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University in 1994, an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in 1994, was named as one of 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the 20th century by the International Press Institute in 2000, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded him its International Journalism Award in 2003.

On July 29, 2022, Zamora was arrested on charges of money laundering that are widely seen as a retaliation against his coverage of corruption in the Guatemalan government. In 2023, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison. That conviction was overturned by another court, and a new trial ordered. A court ordered his release on May 15, 2024, with the judge ruling that he was not considered a flight risk or a threat to the investigation. The Media Development Investment Fund, which had invested in one of his newspapers, said it welcomed his conditional release but called on the judiciary to "deliver timely justice in the other pending case against him."