Los Tiempos of Bolivia, another Latin American newspaper, is harassed by the country’s government, while the headquarters of the newspaper La Prensa in Nicaragua is seized by the government of Daniel Ortega.
Editorial Canelas executives say they have faced a campaign of economic suffocation and political pressure against the newspaper, through “frequent” financial and administrative controls, the imposition of fines and sanctions, the exclusion of government ads, and the harassment of a businessman close to the government. official party, Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS).
The National Press Association (ANP), which represents the main print media in Bolivia, denounced any pressure or coercion against the operation of journalism companies “as it represents an attack on freedom of expression and press freedom”.
The newspaper is one of the most influential newspapers in Bolivia.
The international complaint about the harassment of Los Tiempos was made on August 10 by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), a Miami-based organization.
Since then, local and international organizations have spoken about the newspaper housed in a modern building in Cochabamba.
Along with El Diario and La Razón, it is one of Bolivia’s most important media outlets.
hashtag #YoSoyLosTiempos was created for readers to show their support for the newspaper.
The IAPA reported that the government’s campaign of suffocation began years ago with “clear discrimination in official publicity”.
Editora Canelas says the newspaper has received only two government contracts between 2021 and 2022, one for 40,000 Bolivians (R$29,000) with the Presidency Ministry and the other for 70,000 with the Supervisory Authority of the Financial System (ASFI). (R$51 thousand).
“Meanwhile, other government media outlets received contracts ranging from 2 million Bolivians to 7 million Bolivians,” says the editor.
Recently, the government has been discouraging private investors from buying properties put up for sale by Los Tiempos to raise funds and meet their obligations to banks and staff, according to the IAPA.
According to Vivian Omonte, general secretary of the Canelas Workers’ Union, the Bolivian newspaper owes six months’ salary and employees are experiencing the effects of the repression, so they declared a state of emergency.
“The IAPA noted that the current Luis Arce government’s way of working is different from the direct censorship it implemented under former President Evo Morales. Attacks are now commonplace against indirect and independent and critical media.
IAPA chief Jorge Canahuati said he was concerned about indirect methods of repression “especially during the economic crisis aggravated by the pandemic like the current one”.
Carlos Jornet, leader of the organization’s Press Freedom and Information Commission, said:
“We have seen processes that are almost similar to the seizure of resources by the governments of other countries, and in any case we see that this is a perverse formula for destroying democracy”.
Los Tiempos executives denounced that, “in a surprising coincidence with hostile takeover bids received by the company’s shareholders”, the National Tax System (SIN) and the Company’s Audit conducted “abusive audits against the publisher” and attributed improper multi-million debts. and the activities of other media that are no longer working.
They stated that the aim of the campaign was to force Los Tiempos shareholders to surrender and hand over the company to government allies after almost 79 years of operation by the Canelas family.
In the latest measurement of IAPA’s Chapultepec Index, Bolivia is ranked 15th out of 22 countries in the Americas region and is on the list of countries that place severe restrictions on the work of journalism.
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mobilization by the Bolivian newspaper
The IFEX-ALC network, which brings together 24 organizations in 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean dedicated to the advocacy of freedom of expression and a free press, joined the calls in favor of the Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos.
In a statement, Varlık demanded that the Bolivian government “stop using state power to pressure or punish the media, as in the Cochabamba newspaper ‘Los Tiempos’).
According to the business, economic pressures that could lead to the closure of the newspaper or force it to change its editorial.
Other organizations representing the country’s journalists, such as the National Association of Journalists of Bolivia (ANPB) and the Cochabamba Association of Journalists (APC), have expressed their solidarity with Los Tiempos.
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source: Noticias
