Bolivia

The editor of El Diario newspaper Ghilka Sanabria, was brutally beaten on the night of 5 November 2012; she has ruled out the possibility of the attack being an attempted robbery.

The owner of Radio Popular 95.1 FM, Fernando Vidal, and the station’s operator, Karen Arce, suffered burns of various degrees after a fire bomb attack on the Bolivian station, during a programme touching on smuggling in the region.

The police have so far failed to investigate an incident at the home of Bolvian journalist Humberto Vacaflor Ganam. This is the second attack in two years on the journalist who has been critical of the government’s actions and policies.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the official harassment of two executives of a Bolivian newspaper that has reported on government corruption in the northern department of Pando. Both journalists sought refuge in Brazil for three days after the episode, according to news reports.

The mayor of a Bolivian town accused El Deber newspaper of promoting his removal from office and said that he could take actions to “bury” the newspaper.

Government Minister Carlos Romero announced he was filing a criminal charge against the ANF for libeling the president in an article titled “Evo says that if people go hungry in the east it is because of ‘laziness’.” Romero said that the lawsuit seeks “to set a precedent.”

A number of journalists and camera operators were assaulted while trying to cover protests by police officers demanding higher pay.

Radio Vanguardia, owned by the workers at the Empresa Minera Colquiri, was the target of three explosions in one night. One of its journalists told RSF: “We were in the studio when a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse was thrown on to the roof and the rear walls of the building.”

Rogelio Peláez was convicted of “defamation and libel” for his use of metaphors in articles about a lawyer who had collected excessively high legal fees.

IPI is dismayed that President Morales considers the media to be his opposition and, therefore, instead of condemning attacks against critical press, seems to leave his followers free to “react against the lies,” which has at times resulted in violence.

Leopoldo Ibarra sustained eight stab wounds and a beating for what he says was retaliation for his coverage of local trade organisations.

A group of residents from the community of Choré dismantled and destroyed equipment belonging to the Yapacaní community radio station and Canal 8 television station.

Journalist Mónica Oblitas has been receiving threats since reporting on a corruption case in April 2011.

Mónica Oblitas has received repeated death threats after publishing an exposé on corruption within the Institute of Forensic Investigations.

According to a Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation, David Niño de Guzmán died as a result of injuries caused by the detonation of a bomb that he himself manufactured.

Richard Romero Cossío was accused of “insult to authorities” for selling a video about the president’s activities as the head of a coca growers association.