The newspaper El Comercio reported a new case of threats against a journalist in Ecuador on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Reporter and director of the radio magazine Democracia, Gonzalo Rosero, claimed he has been receiving threats for six months but their frequency increased during the last five weeks, according to the newspaper.
"This journalist has been pursued, followed, and in the last week this has been very strange," Rosero said on air in an interview, according to the newspaper La Hora.
Rosero's denouncement comes a week after reporter Jeanette Hinostroza resigned during her television program after being threatened for an investigation she aired. Hinostroza's report scrutinized President Rafael Correa's cousin, accusing him of several irregularities.
The Ecuadorian Journalists Forum (FOPE in Spanish) decried threats against all journalists in the country and reminded the government that it should guarantee reporters' safety, the group stated in a press release. "When a journalist is threatened and silenced it affects the right of citizens to receive information in the public interest," FOPE added.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
