IAPA: Threats to journalists, media raise concern in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Bolivia – The Inter American Press Association on Tuesday condemned recent comments by Bolivian government officials seen as threats against journalists and attempts to publicly discredit the media in the South American nation.

Claudio Paolillo, the chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said in a statement that the comments mirror old practices of trying to intimidate and dissuade journalists from reporting on issues of public interest.

“We deeply condemn the fact that the government is always seeking to stigmatize the press, labeling it a ‘cartel,’ as if it were a gang of delinquents, thus justifying criminal charges which are completely out of line with what the Press Law currently in effect in the country stipulates and with the inter-American principles on press freedom,” Paolillo said.

Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia has described members of the opposition and some journalists as belonging to a “media-political mafia.” He also accused them of a “conspiracy” against President Evo Morales and threatened to apply “the laws to all these liars.”

Garcia made the comment in reference to journalists and media that had published information about an influence-peddling scandal involving Morales’ former lover, Gabriela Zapata. She has been arrested and charged with illegal enrichment, laundering of unjust gains and influence trafficking as part of a probe by the government’s anti-corruption agency into a Chinese company that has won more than $500 million worth of contracts with the state.

The Miami-based IAPA said Garcia specifically mentioned the Fides News Agency and the newspapers El Deber, Pagina Siete and Erbol.

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IAPA’s statement on Bolivia: http://en.sipiapa.org/notas/1210365-bolivia-threats-to-journalists-media-raise-concern