A Bolivian journalist claimed bullets were fired at the door of his home in the southern city of Tarija on Oct. 11, reported the news agency ANF. Reporter Humberto Vacaflor reported the attack to the local police but the Special Force to Fight Crime asked him to bring the suspects to the station himself, the agency added.
After the response, the journalist reported the attack on Facebook where he said his door was hit with military calibre bullets, according to ANF.
Vacaflor, columnist for several media outlets in Bolivia, had questioned the policies and actions of the government in his articles, reported the website IFEX. The website went on to say "the government had him fired from some media [in reprisal], and he received threats and insults through social media and by phone."
The National Press Association decried the act and reiterated its defense of freedom of expression, the press and opinion, the group said on its website.
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.
