FOCUS ON THE AMERICAS - International Press Institute

Right: Bolivian journalists
protest in front of
the presidential palace in
La Paz, October 5, 2010.
(REUTERS)
Many people were injured, including Jesus
Vaca, a cameraman for Channel 13, Network
One, Luis Arias, Felix Limache, Bismarck
Avila and Roger Ramos, Unitel’s cameramen
and journalists, and the photographers Ricardo
Montero, from the daily El Deber and
Regis Montero, from the newspaper El Día.
Nine days later, supporters of the suspended
mayor of Sucre, Jaime Barrón, attacked
Channel 7 reporters Saíd Ugarte,
Jorge Auza and Alejandro Rojas with
blows, stones and firecrackers, and hurled
insults at them. University students tried
to take a camera away from Auza, who,
along with the other reporters, had to
leave under police escort.
On July 9, a mob attacked a group of journalists
covering a police operation in Tackoloma.
After confronting the police, the attackers
surrounded the journalists, beat
five of them and stole two cameras from
the Univalle and the ATB channels.
In early September, the ANP sparked controversy
by warning of a threat to freedom of expression
through two articles in a draft law
against racism and all forms of discrimination.
On July 9, a mob attacked
a group of journalists covering
a police operation in
Tackoloma.
Article 16 of the draft law imposes economic
sanctions and the suspension of operating
licenses on media “that authorize or
broadcast racist or discriminatory ideas”;
article 23 foresees prison sentences of up to
five years for workers or owners of media
involved in the same ‘transgressions’.
The possible adoption of the law sparked
protests from journalists across the country.
Journalists demonstrated and went on
hunger strike in cities like La Paz, Santa
Cruz, Cochabamba and Tarija.
On October 7, 17 newspapers across the
country published a blank front page with
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the message: “There is no democracy without
freedom of expression”. On the same
day, in a letter to Legislative Assembly President
Álvaro García Linera, 24 International
Freedom of Expression Xchange
(IFEX) members expressed their concern
about the articles. However, the law was
approved a day later. The Inter American
Press Association (IAPA) also sent a letter
to President Evo Morales and sent a delegation
to Bolivia from October 18 to 19.
On November 30, Bolivian journalists
called on Parliament to annul Article 16
and to revise Article 23 of the Law against
Racism, in a letter signed by over 32,000 citizens.
The government of Morales
protested against this action, began a
media campaign, and in December the
President claimed that he was planning to
establish a Media Law in 2011.
Recommendations
• The authorities must seriously investigate
all alleged attacks against journalists.
• The government should revise recentlypassed
legislation in accordance with free
media observers’ suggestions.
• The government must ensure that media
professionals are free to gather and distribute
information without fear of harassment
and attack.
Bolivia in Brief
Population: 9.7 million
Domestic Overview:
Located between the Andes and the Amazon,
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries
in the Americas (according to the
World Bank), and has one of the most unequal
distributions of wealth in the region.
Rural and indigenous populations
are victims of economic and political exclusion.
In 2006, Evo Morales became the
first elected indigenous president of the
country. His campaign was based on increased
participation of poor people and
a redistribution of the country’s natural
wealth. Since then, Morales has pushed
profound constitutional reform aimed at
empowering excluded groups and
promoting greater decentralization. The
hydrocarbons sector and others have been
nationalized and state enterprises have
been created to promote the development
of various productive sectors.
Beyond Borders:
Since the accession of President Evo
Morales to power, Bolivia has established
strong ties with the member states of the
ALBA-TCP (Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua,
Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, San Vicente,
the Grenadines and Antigua and
Barbuda). Bolivia is also a member of the
UN and other international organizations
such as the OAS, the Andean Community
of Nations, UNASUR, the Non-Aligned
Movement, the UIP and the WTO.
The government has also been allied with
Brazil, Peru, Russia and Iran on different
issues such as the war against drugs, hydrocarbons
and nuclear power. Bolivia’s
bilateral relations with the United States
have been marked by complaints by the
Bolivian government about alleged
American interference in Bolivia’s domestic
affairs.
IPI Contributor
Randall Corella Vargas is a Costa Rican journalist
who has worked in print media since 1998. He has
written for the weekly magazine Universidad and
the newspapers Prensa Libre and Al Día. Before finishing
his studies, he worked for several sections of
La Nación newspaper. Since July 2004, he has been
a journalist for Proa, a Sunday magazine. He is also
active in the domains of Internet and social networks.
He is also a caricaturist, blogger and an enthusiast
of ‘infographics’. In 2009, he was selected
as a member of the Balboa Program for young journalists
and, as part of that experience in Madrid, he
worked for the EFE news agency.
South America
Brazil
By Saurabh Sati
The biggest media market on the
continent is thriving with innumerable
radio stations and TV channels and active
debate on all topics. A free media is guaranteed
by the constitution and there is a large,
receptive audience eagerly awaiting the latest
installment of the latest reality and
game shows. Yet Brazil remains a dangerous
environment for journalists to ply their
trade in, with two journalists killed as a direct
consequence of their work in 2010 and
a radio station burned down.
Crime reporter Francisco Gomes de Medeiros
was gunned down outside his home on October
18, 2010. Medeiros, who worked for
Radio Caico, had received several threats
after he broke a story on alleged vote rigging
in the build-up to national elections held on
October 3. The story claimed that politicians
were offering crack cocaine in order to win
over voters. Two days after Medeiros’ death
the authorities confirmed that they believed
that his death was linked to his work. News
reports subsequently claimed that a former
prisoner had been arrested and had confessed
to the crime but the police were continuing
their investigations.
Clovis Silva Aguiar, a sports journalist for
TV’s Capital, an affiliate of Rede TV, was
gunned down outside his mother’s house
in the city of Imperatriz on June 24. Two
men on a motorcycle fired three fatal
shots before escaping. Aguiar was also the
target of an assassination attempt in 2005.
Although police believe it was a contract
killing, his murder has not been linked to
his work as a reporter. One suspect has
been arrested.
Earlier in the year, the Brazilian Association
for Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI)
reported that two armed men burned
down a radio station on February 8. The
station had recently covered a delay in paying
the town’s employees and had promised
a new show that would cover politics
more closely. This is the third time the station
has been burned down and the owner
claimed that it was targeted each time it reported
on the administrative authorities.
The relationship between the media and
authorities appeared to have been on the
mend when the 1967 Press Law, which allowed
the authorities to censor media and
seize publications, was repealed in April
2009. But soon after, in a contradictory
move, the leading Brazilian daily O Estado
de S. Paulo was on July 31, 2009 subjected
to a court order banning it from covering
legal affairs involving Fernando Sarney, the
son of Brazil's former president, José Sarney,
who is now senate speaker. The newspaper
then exhausted all possible avenues
of appeal and the ban continues to be in
place despite the fact that several flaws
have been pointed out in the ruling.
Crime reporter Francisco
Gomes de Medeiros was
gunned down outside his
home on October 18.
Under the current judicial setup legal proceedings
involving defamation (both civil
and criminal) can still result in stiff judgments.
And lawsuits, some involving a significant
sum of money, are becoming a potent
intimidation tactic when it comes to
the media. Jornal De Londrina, a newspaper
in Parana state, was recently asked to pay a
former mayor $353,000 for “moral damages”
– a judgment that has left the newspaper
facing closure.
The problem intensifies in smaller towns in
which politicians have been accused of
using the courts to deter journalists and
publishers. Investigative journalism has reportedly
been inhibited by these steps.
Press freedom was also a significant issue
in the national election. The then-president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the supporters
of the Workers' Party often accused the
press of acting as an opposition party deter-
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