Bolivia's National Association of the Press (ANP) has condemned the aggression against journalists and the obstacles they face in covering politics, after a journalist and two videographers were attacked by a rock-throwing crowd of sympathizers of Sucre's Mayor-elect Jaime Barrón, reports Los Tiempos.
"I've brought my rifle, and I’m going to shoot you,” Mayor Percy Fernández of Santa Cruz warned a TV reporter and a cameraman who had insisted on questioning him about his plan to reorganize the city’s public markets, Los Tiempos and El Mundo report.
Defense Minister Rubén Saavedra says the military is ready to comply with a Supreme Court order to declassify documents from the military dictatorship led by General Luis García Meza (1980-1981), AFP reports.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned this week that governments are using the new coronavirus pandemic to publish measures that threaten freedom of expression. The two organizations cited the case of Bolivia, and CPJ also highlighted the situation in Puerto Rico.
Polarization persists in Bolivia after former leftist President Evo Morales resigned and fled the country and conservative politician Jeanine Áñez declared herself interim president. Journalists are finding themselves caught in the middle.
A message allegedly written by Bolivian President Evo Morales on his Twitter account congratulating drug traffickers Joaqín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and Pablo Escobar on the occasion of Teacher’s Day on June 6 went viral in the country.
A Bolivian journalist who reported alleged irregularities in the contracting of the country's state telecommunications company could be criminally prosecuted.