Bolivia

Journalist Silvia Velarde reported that a group of residents of the El Alto area assaulted and threatened to kill her when she was covering an attempted lynching.

The IAPA called on officials in Bolivia, El Salvador and Venezuela to quickly investigate the acts of violence and intimidation reported in recent days against journalists in those countries.

Following a vicious attack on cameraman Macelo Lobo, CPJ calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident.

A journalist for the Red Uno television network said he is receiving threats that are related to his work. A reporter from the San Miguel radio station,said he was assaulted by a government minister’s security guard.

A number of journalists who were covering Hugo Chávez’s visit to the Presidential Palace in La Paz, reported that they were locked up in the Press Room.

The editor of the monthly “Larga Vista” reported that he was detained by the security director for the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Unitel has stated that journalist and news presenter Jimena Antelo Telchi was harassed by five men who said they were police officers.

RSF is warning of a real risk of impunity in the case of Radio Municipal Pucarani radio station journalist Carlos Quispe Quispe, who was killed in March 2008.

President Evo Morales issued a decree which orders the confiscation of the possessions of individuals who are suspected of having financed any acts of terrorism, including owners of media outlets.

Journalist Andrés Rojas resigned as editor-in-chief of Canal 57 Virgen de Copacabana after receiving many death threats. In a separate case, Carlos Morales, editor-in-chief of “La Prensa”, and another of the newspaper’s editors, Raphael Ramirez, received death threats in connection with a story linking a government official to organised gangs.

(RSF/IFEX) – Self-proclaimed pro-government activist Adolfo Tito Cerrudo Dávila, who is facing two cases of assault against journalists, was arrested during a demonstration in La Paz on 16 March 2009 for failing to comply with the terms of a judicial order. On 6 March 2008, Juan Carlos Rocha Cavaría, editor of the privately-owned daily “La […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – On 7 March 2009, journalists from several media outlets said that a group of villagers from nine communities in the settlement of Huatajata who occupied and looted a rural property owned by former Bolivian vice-president, Víctor Hugo Cárdenas, prevented them from carrying out their work. Huatajata is located in the municipality of Achacachi, […]

Attacks on the Press in 2008: Bolivia

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders today noted the arrest on 3 March 2009 of two suspects, Juan Carlos and Saul Herrero Abrego, in the investigation into the sabotage of Radio Rurrenabaque radio station, on 4 September 2008, in the department of Beni, northeastern Colombia. The two brothers are reportedly members of the Beni Civic Committee […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – On 3 March 2009, journalist Pedro Pérez, press chief and news anchor for Canal 15 RTV television station, reported having received death threats via his cell phone and text messages after he was beaten up on 9 February by individuals involved in illegal land sales. The assault took place when Pérez was covering […]

(IPYS/IFEX) – On 9 February 2009, journalist Gonzalo Ibáñez, the director of the “De cabo a rabo” programme, and his camera operator, Rimar Bejarano, were beaten with whips by residents of the indigenous community of Quila Quila, who had been holding a vigil for more than a week in front of the Chuquisaca government buildings […]