The prominent Guatemalan anti-corruption lawyer Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa was fatally shot along with another man on Saturday at a sports center in Guatemala City. For years, Solórzano Foppa had been outspoken against Guatemala’s most powerful politicians, business leaders and companies. He was known for his anti-corruption work as head of the Criminal Investigations Directorate within the Public Prosecutor’s Office and later as head of Guatemala’s tax authority, when he helped prosecute dozens of powerful Guatemalan business figures.
“In more recent years, he developed a social media presence, and he was forcefully denouncing corruption,” says Roman Gressier, a journalist based in Guatemala City. “We were thinking about [the killing of Solórzano Foppa] not only as an assassination, but also having a deep effect on freedom of expression.”
“Juan Francisco was a young lawyer coming from a background of pro-democracy and revolutionary activists,” says Silvia Solórzano Foppa, Juan Francisco’s mother. Her son was 43 years old when he was killed.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.