On October 28, seven reporters, photographers, and camera operators for several Bolivian media outlets were covering a land dispute in the eastern province of Guarayos when they were surrounded by armed men who shot at them, punched and kicked them, destroyed some of their equipment, and held six of them captive for about seven hours, according to CPJ interviews with two of the journalists via messaging app and news reports.
“The abduction and assault of a group of journalists in Guarayos, Santa Cruz, is extremely serious, and authorities cannot attempt to downplay it for political reasons,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Bolivian authorities must bring those responsible to justice and send an unequivocal message that such violent abuses against the press are unacceptable.”
Jorge Gutiérrez, a photographer for the daily El Deber newspaper in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, told CPJ that the journalists had been invited by a soybean producers’ association to inspect private farmland in Guarayos occupied by protesters who claimed the land for themselves. He said the journalists flew from Santa Cruz to an area near the estate of Las Londras, about 110 miles north of Santa Cruz.
From there, Gutiérrez said the journalists and members of the soybean producers’ association were driven in several vehicles provided by the association to the disputed land. Four police officers who met the journalists approached about 20 gun-toting protesters to see if they would talk to the reporters about why they had occupied the land. Instead, Gutiérrez said, the men disarmed the police officers before charging at the journalists, shooting the tires of their vehicles, and firing on two of the vehicles, one of which managed to escape with camera operator Róger Tinoca of the TV station PAT.
“I didn’t think we were going to get out of there alive,” Gutiérrez told CPJ.
Percy Suárez, a camera operator for the private TV station ATB, told CPJ that he filmed the initial encounter. In the video, which was published on the Facebook page of ATB, four men with backpacks and rifles can be seen shooting at the vehicles. Then, one of the men orders Suárez to stop filming and points his rifle at Suárez, who drops his camera to the ground.
Suárez said the man then destroyed the camera with a gunshot and struck him on the side of his head with the rifle butt. Suárez and Gutiérrez, along with reporter Silvia Gómez and camera operator Sergio Martínez of Unitel TV, and reporter Mauricio Egüez and camera operator Nicolás García of Red UNO TV station, were then taken to the protesters’ nearby base camp.
There, the journalists, along with the four police officers and several of the drivers and property owners who had organized the trip, were forced to lie face down and were kicked and stepped on “as if we were a rug,” Suárez told CPJ. He said their captors threatened to burn alive one of the landowners accompanying them.
Suárez said the police finally convinced the gunmen to release the group at about 6 p.m. They drove back to Santa Cruz where Suárez received a head X-ray at a local hospital and was released. He said the other journalists were not seriously injured.
Bolivia’s national police commander Jhonny Aguilera dispatched 200 police agents to Las Londras to gather evidence about the incident after it was over, according to El Deber. He also called the episode an “altercation,” prompting Bolivia’s National Press Association to accuse the police commander in a statement of downplaying the incident.
“What happened was, unquestionably, an ambush and a kidnapping. Aguilera should not insult the intelligence of the country by camouflaging what happened there,” the association said.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Adalberto Rojas, who heads the Santa Cruz office of the government land reform agency, expressed his solidarity with the affected journalists, according to El Deber. The same newspaper reported that when Rojas visited Las Londras the day after the attack, he was applauded by the protesters.
At the news conference, Rojas refused to answer questions about the armed men who attacked the journalists, according to El Deber. Roberto Ruíz, the prosecuting attorney who is investigating the case, told reporters that on Wednesday Rojas had been summoned in to provide testimony about the gunmen, according to a video posted by El Deber. Ruíz said his office has identified four suspects but that so far there had been no arrests.
CPJ called Rojas’s office but a spokeswoman, Wendy Zambrana, said he was not available to comment. CPJ wrote via messaging app to Lt. Col. Marco Torres, who is leading the police investigation of the case, but he did not respond.
]]>The in-depth report, titled “COVID-19 Response Measures Affecting Media Freedom,” analyzes how emergency measures adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic impact press freedom, freedom of expression, and access to information in the five Latin American countries.
Produced in partnership with pro bono teams from law firms in the five countries, the bilingual report is a comparative analysis of the new laws, executive orders, and other legal measures enacted in these countries in response to the pandemic in the six months following the first identified case of COVID-19 in Latin America in February 2020. The report looks at how those measures negatively impacted freedom of expression and access to information during that six-month period, or their potential to restrict these fundamental rights in the future.
Despite guidance from international bodies like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, whose Resolution 01/20, adopted in April 2020, offered specific recommendations for countries to “address COVID-19 from a human rights perspective,” national leadership across the Americas failed to account for the needs of journalists and implemented regulations with overly broad language that opened the door to greater criminalization of speech. In some especially concerning cases, already repressive leaders used the pandemic as a pretext to increase censorship, undermine transparency, and restrict public access to information.
As the pandemic spread across the Americas, officials and policymakers failed to consider the specific needs of the press to maintain access to their workplaces and reporting locations, imposing curfews and quarantine orders without exceptions for the media. Despite the public’s clear need for reliable information, journalists did not always make the cut as essential workers — of the countries analyzed, the Dominican Republic and Peru were the only ones to proactively define media work as an “essential service” or include exemptions for media workers from the beginning. Even in Peru, law enforcement was not always aware of the exceptions, leading to numerous cases of journalists harassed or briefly detained by police for breaking quarantine, even when carrying the necessary identification allowing them to travel freely, as CPJ documented at the time.
The rush to draft and approve many of these executive orders and emergency legislation also meant the language itself was often overly broad, leaving them open to interpretation, and in some cases introducing new crimes not included in the national criminal code under the guise of protecting public health. In Bolivia, the government of interim president Jeanine Áñez was forced to walk back a series of executive decrees that allowed for criminal charges against individuals who spread “disinformation” or caused “uncertainty in the population,” without defining either of those terms. In Brazil, multiple lawmakers have presented bills that would establish criminal penalties for publishing or sharing “fake news” — a phrase that has no established legal definition under Brazilian law.
In the most troubling cases, the report found that COVID-19 offered an excuse for leaders with authoritarian leanings to further restrict access to official information and shield themselves from questions or criticism. The administration of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele funneled information through a few select sources, offering official updates only through the presidential press secretariat or, increasingly, the president’s own Twitter account. In both El Salvador and Brazil, the national governments reduced or suspended the activities of government entities tasked with ensuring transparency and responding to public requests for information, effectively cutting off sources of vital data on public interest issues such as government contracts for medical centers and supplies, vaccine rollout, and even hospitalization and death rates.
The full report is available in English and Spanish here.
]]>On March 30, near the village of Santa Bárbara, about five miles northeast of the capital, La Paz, a group of truck drivers abducted, assaulted, and robbed Guzmán, a freelance reporter on assignment for the privately owned broadcaster Radio FM Bolivia, according to Guzmán and Radio FM Bolivia news director Galo Hubner, both of whom spoke with CPJ, and news reports.
At the time of the attack, Guzmán was covering a demonstration by thousands of coca farmers who had blocked a highway near La Paz to protest the government’s decision to relocate a state-run collection site for their coca leaves, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and news reports.
Truck drivers angry about the blockade confronted Guzmán and accused him of being a spy for the farmers; they then tied him up, struck him in the back with their fists, kicked him in the buttocks, stole his three cell phones, and then released him after about 90 minutes, according to Guzmán and Hubner, who spoke to CPJ in a video call.
“Bolivian authorities must act speedily to investigate the abduction, assault, and robbery of journalist Franklin Guzmán Zambrana, identify the perpetrators, and bring them to account,” said CPJ South and Central America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Journalists must be able to cover protests without risking their personal safety.”
Guzmán said the truck drivers initially demanded that the protesters open the highway in exchange for his release, but they declined and the truckers released him. News reports initially stated that Guzmán was held for several hours, but he confirmed to CPJ that his time in the trucker’s custody amounted to about 90 minutes.
“I showed them my press credentials, but they didn’t believe I was a journalist,” Guzmán told CPJ.
Guzmán said he did not require medical attention and continued reporting on the protests after he was released. He added that he plans to file a criminal complaint with the attorney general’s office.
CPJ called the Bolivian national police headquarters in La Paz and its station in Santa Bárbara for comment, but no one answered.
]]>To help minimize the risks, editors and journalists should consider the following safety information and plan accordingly.
Pre-Assignment
Important: The level of training, standard of equipment and experience of the fire authorities will vary depending upon the location. In certain countries, firefighters are volunteers who may have received little or no training, as highlighted by CPJ in Bolivia. Be aware that fire level warnings (e.g. high, severe, catastrophic etc.) and relevant safety procedures may vary at a local, national, and international level.
On Location
Never underestimate the speed, power and destructive nature of a wildfire. Even small fires can rapidly escalate and spread due to dry conditions, high temperatures, and prevailing winds. Note that fires typically progress in the direction of the ambient wind, so always pay attention to wind direction and reposition accordingly.
Equipment & Clothing
Driving & Vehicles
COVID-19 Considerations
Media workers may report from emergency/evacuation centers for people who have been displaced. Such locations could be overcrowded, meaning COVID-19 physical distancing safety measures may not be implemented and/or adhered to, increasing the chances of being exposed to the virus.
Media workers who fall into the COVID-19 vulnerable category and/or who reside with vulnerable individuals should therefore consider and discuss the associated risks. Note that high volumes of virus droplets may circulate in the air if people are coughing due to the side effects of smoke inhalation. Relevant personal protective equipment (PPE) should be considered (e.g. face masks, hand sanitizer etc.), as well as an understanding about regularly and thoroughly washing your hands, avoiding touching your face, and the routine cleaning of equipment.
For more detailed safety advice regarding COVID-19 and reporting, please refer to CPJ’s Covering the coronavirus pandemic advisory.
]]>On August 5, about two dozen protesters in the central Bolivian town of Mairana attacked Sapiencia, a freelance photojournalist, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.
Sapiencia told CPJ that he drove to Mairana after activists blocked a highway to protest the Bolivian interim government’s decision to postpone presidential elections until October 18. When he took out his cellphone to take photos, the protesters, who gathered to support the opposition Movement to Socialism political party, beat Sapiencia with clubs and pelted him with rocks, according to the journalist and a report by the Bolivian National Press Association, a local press freedom group.
Sapiencia was hospitalized after the attack, where he received seven stitches for wounds on his head, was treated for bruises, and released after a few hours, he said. He told CPJ yesterday that he suffered partial memory loss, remains in pain, and is being treated by a neurologist who has ordered him to rest and avoid work for the next two weeks.
“It is essential that Bolivian authorities identify those responsible for the brutal attack against photojournalist David Sapiencia and hold them to account,” said CPJ South and Central America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Groups participating in the protests in Bolivia must understand the fundamental role that journalists play in reporting these events, and immediately stop attacking the press.”
Sapiencia is a freelance photographer and founder and editor of Los Valles, a local news and culture page on Facebook, he told CPJ. Following the attack, he posted a video on the Los Valles page showing a bloody cut on his head.
“I thought I was going to die,” he said, adding that he momentarily lost consciousness during the attack. He said protesters also broke into his car and stole his Nikon camera, and then left him at the scene. Sapiencia told CPJ that a town resident with a motorcycle drove him to a hospital following the attack.
The attack was initiated by a demonstrator leading a group of women supporters of the Movement to Socialism, and then others joined in, according to the Bolivian National Press Association report.
Sapiencia told CPJ that he reported the attack to the Mairana police. When CPJ contacted the police station via text message, Police Sargent Edil Sandoval said he could not release any information about the case because an investigation was ongoing.
Sapiencia told CPJ that protesters have recently attacked journalists perceived to be sympathetic to the interim government. The La Paz daily Página Siete reported that at least five journalists, including Sapiencia, have been verbally and physically assaulted while covering demonstrations since late July.
Sapiencia told CPJ that he takes photos of protests only with his mobile phone to avoid calling attention to himself. “It’s too dangerous to use a real camera,” he said.
]]>On June 11, a crowd of about 50 protesters in the central Bolivian town of Entre Ríos attacked a group of three journalists from the outlets and their driver, while they were covering a demonstration against the town’s COVID-19 lockdown, according to reports from the Unitel TV broadcaster and El Deber newspaper.
Protesters kicked and punched Unitel TV reporter Rodolfo Orellana and his camera operator Joel Orellana, forced them to stop filming, and then destroyed their camera, according to the broadcaster’s report. Demonstrators also beat Iván Escobar, the journalists’ driver, according to the newspaper.
In an interview with her employer and in a telephone interview with CPJ, El Deber reporter Soledad Prado said the protesters threatened to burn the journalists alive.
The journalists took refuge inside their vehicle but were surrounded by the demonstrators, who rocked the car back and forth and cut its rear tires, Prado told CPJ. She said police intervened and escorted the journalists, none of whom was seriously injured, to safety in the nearby town of Yapacaní.
Franklin Villazón, chief of police in Yapacaní, said the attack was under investigation, according to news reports. On Twitter, Interior Minister Arturo Murillo described the incident as a “kidnapping” and vowed that the perpetrators would be held accountable.
“We commend Bolivian authorities’ steps to protect journalists from Unitel TV and El Deber when they came under attack in Entre Ríos, and to open an investigation into this worrisome incident,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “We urge the government to hold the attackers to account and send a message that journalists should be free to cover protests without fear that they will be assaulted or threatened.”
Prado told CPJ that the demonstrators accused the journalists of working for right-wing media outlets that had “sold-out” to the government. She said the protesters were supporters of former left-wing Bolivian President Evo Morales, who resigned under pressure last year and was replaced by interim President Jeanine Añez.
Entre Ríos has been the site of numerous demonstrations, including the blockage of highways, to protest the Añez government, according to Unitel TV’s report.
Raúl Peñaranda, a Bolivian press critic and editor of the Brújula Digital news website, told CPJ that people in Entre Ríos and nearby towns have harassed journalists for filming local residents violating the government’s COVID-19 lockdown by reopening their businesses or ignoring social distancing recommendations.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Bolivia in March, there have been at least 10 attacks against journalists covering it, according to the independent La Paz newspaper Página Siete.
]]>On May 31, Arias had reported that the Bolivian government bought tear gas at inflated prices from Brazil, allegedly wasting more than $2 million.
Hours after that report aired, the Bolivian Interior Ministry released a statement calling the report false and accusing Arias of engaging in a “dirty war and dirty politics” against the government.
The statement confirmed the tear gas purchase but disputed that the government had overpaid, and said, “We will not rest until Mr. Arias redresses and restores the dignity and the image of the people he has harmed.”
In a brief phone call, Arias told CPJ he was too busy dealing with the controversy to respond to questions.
On June 6, Gigavisión aired a report alleging that the federal government had instructed police officers in Santa Cruz, where the broadcaster is based, to spy on Arias and smear his name.
Gigavisión, which is owned by Arias’ family, was closely aligned with former President Evo Morales and received a constant flow of government advertising during his time in power, Raúl Peñaranda, a Bolivian press critic and editor of the independent news website Brújula Digital, told CPJ by phone from La Paz. The Morales administration used government advertising to favor friendly private media organizations, according to CPJ research.
Since Morales resigned in November and was replaced by interim President Jeanine Añez, Peñaranda said Gigavisión had broadcast several stories on alleged corruption in the new administration. In March, the Añez government withdrew its advertising from the station, arguing that Gigavisión’s ratings were too low to justify the expense, according to news reports.
During its seven months in power, the Añez government has forced several opposition radio stations off the air, harassed critical journalists, and labeled some as “seditious,” according to news reports.
CPJ texted and called Bolivia’s Interior Ministry and the Santa Cruz police for comment, but did not receive any responses.
]]>Bogotá, Colombia, May 14, 2020 — Bolivian Interim President Jeanine Añez Chávez should revise a recent emergency decree to ensure that it does not restrict press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On May 7, Añez signed Supreme Decree 4231, which criminalizes the dissemination of “any kind of information, whether written, printed, artistic, or by any other process that puts at risk, affects public health, or generates uncertainty among the population,” and imposes jail terms of one to 10 years for convictions, according to news reports and the text of the decree.
Decree 4231 modifies a March 25 decree, which criminalized defiance of the country’s COVID-19 lockdown or spreading misinformation about the coronavirus, as CPJ documented at the time.
“Instead of responding to concerns about potential press freedom restrictions, the interim Bolivian government has chosen to double down on vague decrees that could criminalize reporters’ work,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York. “Bolivian authorities must find ways to protect public health without endangering the free press.”
Minister of the Presidency Yerko Nuñez said the new measure was aimed at people spreading rumors about the coronavirus, and that journalists should not worry because Bolivia has a special court that handles complaints against the news media, according to reports.
However, Isabel Mercado, editor of the independent daily Página Siete, told CPJ that the decree’s vague language could allow the government to prosecute journalists and editorial cartoonists, and that the new decree also gives judges broad discretion over prison sentences and other sanctions for violators.
Because the decree is vague about what constitutes disinformation, “it could mean just about anything,” Mercado said in a phone interview from La Paz.
Erick Foronda, Añez’s spokesperson, told CPJ via messaging app that the government intends to address criticism of the decree by responding to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who has also expressed concerns about the decree.
[Editors’ note: The text in the fifth paragraph has been updated to correct Yerko Nuñez’s title.]
]]>Bellido told CPJ that the threats were in response to cartoons published on his professional Facebook page and in the independent La Paz daily Página Siete, where he has worked as a cartoonist for the past decade under the pen name “Abecor.”
The cartoons, published on April 5 and 18, depicted recent political controversies and anti-drug operations in the Chapare, a jungle region in central Bolivia that, according to news reports, produces much of the country’s cocaine.
In a screenshot Bellido shared with CPJ, a Facebook user named Francisco Villa commented on one of the cartoons, saying, “The day you will meet your maker is getting closer.”
Another comment from a user named Katy Carla included a photo of Bellido and a caption that said: “If this man disappears, it will not be because of magic.”
Bellido said he received about half a dozen such threats in response to the two cartoons.
He said he showed the threatening messages to Página Siete editor Isabel Mercado who, on April 28, sent a letter to Interior Minister Arturo Murillo. In the letter, she demanded security guarantees so Bellido could safely carry out his work.
Bellido told CPJ yesterday that he plans to report the threats to the police, and said that there was no official reaction to the letter. CPJ’s calls to the Interior Ministry were not returned.
“It’s worrisome because the government doesn’t do anything,” Bellido told CPJ.
In its 2015 special report, “Drawing the Line,” CPJ found that cartoonists are often targeted for harassment because their satirical portraits, whether backhanded or overt, communicate complex political ideas in a form that is accessible and resonates with mass audiences.
]]>On March 25, Bolivian interim President Jeanine Añez signed a decree extending Bolivia’s nationwide COVID-19 lockdown to April 15. Article 13-2 of the decree states that “individuals who incite non-compliance with this decree or misinform or cause uncertainty to the population will be subject to criminal charges for crimes against public health.”
The decree states that violators could face one to 10 years in prison if convicted of violating that article.
“The COVID-19 pandemic must be taken seriously, but vague regulations that criminalize ‘disinformation’ make Bolivia’s interim government look more concerned about its public image than about an effective response to the crisis,” said CPJ Central and South America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick. “These overly broad provisions that criminalize speech open up the dangerous possibility of abuse against journalists reporting vital information and facts.”
Raúl Peñaranda, editor of the independent Brújula Digital news website, told CPJ in a phone call that he believed the article was aimed at opposition politicians who have allegedly spread rumors and fake news about the coronavirus.
However, Rafael Loayza, dean of the communications faculty at the private Catholic University of Bolivia, told CPJ in a phone interview that the vaguely worded article could be used against reporters by a government that he described as extremely sensitive to criticism.
Añez, who replaced President Evo Morales after his resignation in November and is acting as interim president until national elections slated for later this year, has yet to invoke the article, according to Loayza and Peñaranda.
Speaking with CPJ by phone, Isabel Mercado, the editor of the independent La Paz daily Página Siete, explained that reporters have been overwhelmed covering the coronavirus and the nationwide lockdown, and have not devoted much coverage to the article.
During its five months in power, the Añez interim government has forced several opposition radio stations off the air, harassed critical journalists, and labeled some as “seditious,” according to news reports. In January, Añez’s former communications minister, Roxana Lizárraga, declared that freedom of expression in Bolivia “has its limits.”
“There is a lot of concern among journalists about the government’s relationship with the press,” Loayza told CPJ. “It’s very worrisome.”
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