While trying to cover anti-mining protests in the province of Catamarca in Argentina, journalists were denied access to the area, showing a deterioration in freedom of expression, said the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish). FOPEA also said that several protesters and journalists were detained and harassed.
According to the news station TN, the Catamarca area, and especially the town of Andalgalá, is now blockaded by "discriminative, pro-mining individuals" whose only goal is to prevent journalists from accessing the site in order to avoid any critical coverage.
In a press conference, the governor of Catamarca, Lucía Corpacci, blamed the national media for the endurance of the protests, saying that she was “worried about the disinformation circulated by some national media outlets," reported the newspaper Clarín.
FOPEA said in another statement that the residents of the area and the country “have the right to receive reliable information" from multiple sources about large-scale mining and the environmental organizations' protests.
