During a conference in Vienna, Austria, Bolivian President Evo Morales said there is "too much freedom of expression" in his country and that independent news outlets in Bolivia are his main opposition, reported the radio station FM Bolivia.
Morales also justified the recent violence against the press by government supporters, saying that they were simply "reacting against lies," according to the Argentine newspaper La Nación.
The topic was brought up when the International Press Institute (IPI), questioned Bolivia's situation with the press, stating that last year 200 attacks against journalists were registered, reported freemedia.at, a site that belongs to IPI.
The Bolivian president also said that the country's media “represent the interests of the business sector," and he accused them of "confusing the country," reported the news site Infobae.com. When the IPI asked the president for his opinion on the relationship between the press and countries that belong to the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America, among them Ecuador and Venezuela, known for having problems with freedom of expression, the president said that "in Bolivia we are very tolerant, we keep quiet and restrain ourselves... Hopefully the news outlets can behave better, and can educate the people based on the truth," reported Infobae.com.
