Pro-government activists attack journalists
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders calls on the government and judicial authorities to take action in response to two incidents of physical attacks by members of the Popular Civic Committee – a radical group that claims to support the government – against journalists with privately-owned and community media in La Paz on 28 and 29 […]
Parents of schoolchildren hinder work of television station personnel
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 17 and 20 October 2008, a group of parents of schoolchildren who attend the Santo Domingo Savio school in Cochabomba, central Bolivia, stopped personal from the UNITEL network’s local television station from entering the school’s facilities as a protest against a report which showed a young woman saying that drugs are used […]
Police evict journalists from public building, push and threaten them
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 2 October 2008, Consuelo Aruquipa and Abraham Silva, journalists for the ATB television network who were trying to cover an occupation of the Bolivian postal service’s (Empresa de Correos de Bolivia, ECOBOL) offices by peasant farmers in the city of La Paz, were assaulted by police officers in charge of the building’s […]
Camera operator targeted after he is identified as being from a region where the authorities oppose the national government
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 24 September 2008, Carlos Saavedra, a camera operator for the Bolivisión television network, suffered an attempted assault by two unidentified women while he waited outside the San Pedro prison for the lawyer of Pando department governor Leopoldo Fernández. Fernández is being held at the prison in La Paz for having violated the […]
Explosive device thrown at television station’s headquarters; media outlets and journalists covering violence in various parts of the country attacked or impeded from carrying out their work
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 16 September 2008, the headquarters of Canal 9 Red Uno television station, located in the Recoleta area of the city of Cochabamba, in central Bolivia, was attacked with an explosive device that destroyed the building’s windows and those of adjoining houses. Osvaldo Rioja, the television station’s press chief, told the National Press […]
Journalist shot during military operation; armed forces prevent privately-owned media outlets from covering events in Pando; journalists assaulted by government supporters
(IPYS/IFEX) – As a result of Bolivia’s ongoing political crisis, the nation’s media outlets have been subjected to a series of violations of both their freedom of expression and their right to information. On 12 September 2008, Claudia Méndez, a journalist for the privately-owned PAT television network, was hit in the right ankle by a […]
More journalists and media outlets targeted in internal conflict
(IPYS/IFEX) – In a week of violent confrontations between supporters and opponents of President Evo Morales’s government in the departments of Santa Cruz, Cobija, Tarija and, to a lesser degree, in the city of La Paz, several media outlets and journalists have been the target of threats and attacks. On 9 September, approximately 200 youths […]
Radio stations on Brazilian border suspend broadcasting because of attacks on journalists; opponents of government accused of knocking down state-owned radio station antenna
(IPYS/IFEX) – Since 4 September 2008, at least four journalists linked to radio stations working in partnership with state-owned networks have been threatened and attacked in the city of Cobija, Pando department. The radio stations have suspended their broadcasting as a preventative measure. Pando lies on the Brazilian border in northern Bolivia, and, recently, violent […]
Opposition activists attack state-owned media
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 10 September 2008 CPJ press release: BOLIVIA: Opposition activists attack state-owned media New York, September 10, 2008 – Opposition activists in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra stormed the offices of two state-owned media outlets on Tuesday, destroying equipment and forcing them to halt broadcasts in the […]
Journalists assaulted by university students in Sucre
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 22 August 2008, a group of university students assaulted at least fifteen press, radio and television journalists with stones and firecrackers. The journalists were covering an attack by the students on the house of Wálter Arízaga, a leader of the teaching staff at San Francisco Xavier University. The event took place in […]
One journalist in hospital, several others also injured in assaults on press covering demonstrations in Santa Cruz
(IPYS/IFEX) – Between 15 and 19 August 2008, approximately ten reporters, including journalists, camera operators and photographers, were attacked in several different locations in Santa Cruz, eastern Bolivia, by policemen and government and opposition supporters. On 15 August, when a demonstration by handicapped people ended in a clash between civilians and policemen, journalists Wilson Castillo, […]
Recall referendum marred by only a few isolated attacks on press
(RSF/IFEX) – There was surprisingly little violence directed against the press during the 10 August 2008 recall referendum on the mandates of President Evo Morales and eight regional governors, although there was a series of physical attacks on journalists during the preceding days. “We are relieved by the relative calm in which the voting took […]
Journalists harassed, assaulted by civic leaders in Tarija and by protesting teacher on the Cochabamba-La Paz highway
(IPYS/IFEX) – IPYS is concerned by two recent cases of harassment and assault against journalists performing their professional duties. The first incident took place on 5 August 2008 in the town of Tarija, in southern Bolivia when civic leaders of that department threatened personnel of the state-run Televisión Boliviana as they conducted their work in […]
Journalist assaulted while covering demonstration in Beni
(AMARC/IFEX) – On 6 August 2008, a group of individuals linked to the Beni Civic Committee threatened and assaulted journalist Edwin Flores and seized some of his equipment. Flores works for Radio Patujú radio station, which is a member of the Bolivian Radiophonic Education (Educación Radiofónica de Bolivia, ERBOL) network. According to the ERBOL news […]
University television station suspends broadcasting after receiving threats; Reuters reporter assaulted by president’s supporters
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 1 August 2008, Canal 13 Televisión Universitaria, a media outlet belonging to the San Francisco Xavier University in the city of Sucre, in southern Bolivia, suspended broadcasting after student leaders threatened to occupy the station. The students accuse the television station of being biased towards a group of teachers who are demanding […]
Journalists detained briefly, threatened by protesting miners
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 30 July 2008, a group of miners, members of Bolivia’s Main Workers’ Union (Central Obrera Boliviana), held captive some twenty journalists, photographers and camera operators for more than three hours. The media personnel were kept in the second floor of the Communications Palace building, a government headquarters in La Paz where several […]