Bolivia / Americas

  
Vice President Álvaro García Linera, left, and President Evo Morales, right, at a gas plant in Bolivia earlier this month. The pair were voted in for a third term on October 12. (AFP/Aizar Raldes)

How Bolivia’s vice president used media to control his image–and that of the government

Álvaro García Linera’s savvy use of the media helped him make the leap from Marxist guerrilla to vice president of Bolivia. But critics contend that as the country’s second-highest elected official, García Linera is now using his substantial power to manipulate and control the Bolivian news media.

Read More ›

Bolivia’s president and state-run TV skip presidential election debate

President Evo Morales wasn’t the only no show at Bolivia’s lone presidential debate in the run-up to this Sunday’s election. State-run Bolivia TV, which has provided live coverage of every presidential debate since the late 1980s, also ignored the September 28 candidate forum.

Read More ›

Journalist investigates Bolivia’s ‘silent campaign’ for editorial control

At a bizarre news conference in April, Bolivia’s Communications Minister Amanda Dávila claimed that journalist Raúl Peñaranda, who was born in Chile, represented a dangerous “beachhead” for Chilean interests trying to deny landlocked Bolivia access to the Pacific.

Read More ›

Bolivian government gangs up on Página Siete

Bolivia’s loss of territory along the Pacific coast during a 19th-century war with Chile remains an extremely sensitive issue in the landlocked nation. Every March 23, patriotic “Day of the Sea” ceremonies mark the calamity, which Bolivia hopes to reverse through a lawsuit filed this year against Chile at the International Court of Justice.

Read More ›

CPJ condemns ransacking of radio station in Bolivia

Bogotá, Colombia, May 28, 2013–An attack on a community radio station in central Bolivia constitutes a politically motivated attempt to censor its news coverage, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today as it called on authorities to investigate and apprehend the attackers.

Read More ›

Foreign Minister of Ecuador Ricardo Patiño speaks about human rights during the Organization of American States general assembly in Washington, D.C., on March 22. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

At OAS, a victory for human rights and free expression

By reaffirming the autonomy and independence of the regional human rights system and rejecting attempts to neutralize the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its special rapporteur for freedom of expression, the Organization of American States (OAS) chose last week to discard proposals that would have made citizens throughout the hemisphere…

Read More ›

CPJ urges OAS not to weaken human rights system

Dear OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs: Ahead of the assembly of the Organization of American States on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to oppose any attempts to debilitate the regional human rights system. The failure of member states to preserve the autonomy and independence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its special rapporteur on freedom of expression would make citizens throughout the hemisphere more vulnerable to human rights violations and represent a blow to democracy in the Americas.

Read More ›

Attacks on the Press: How the Americas Failed Press Freedom

A system to defend free expression is under attack from foes and former allies. By Carlos Lauría

Read More ›

Fernando Vidal was set on fire in the offices of his radio station, shown here. (AFP//Estaban Farfan)

Critical Bolivian journalist set on fire by masked men

Bogotá, October 31, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bolivian authorities to investigate the motive and find the masterminds behind Monday’s vicious attack on a Bolivian radio journalist who was set on fire in the station’s offices in the southern city of Yacuiba. A studio technician was also injured in the attack.

Read More ›

Journalists temporarily flee Bolivia after harassment

Bogotá, October 19, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the official harassment of two executives of a Bolivian newspaper that has reported on government corruption in the northern department of Pando. Both journalists sought refuge in Brazil for three days after the episode, according to news reports.

Read More ›