2023-05-08 11:42:43
César Ricaurte, director of Fundamedios, a non-profit organization that works to protect free expression and journalists in Latin America, explains the current situation and the threats facing journalism in the region.
Sitting in front of a table full of photos, journalist Jorge Sánchez remembers his father, José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, whose headless and dismembered body was found 20 days after his disappearance. Father and son ran one of the two local radio stations, where they reported on issues of corruption and social justice.
Referring to the number of journalists who have been murdered in that area of Mexico, including his father, Sánchez says that he feels “a feeling of rage, of impotence, of not knowing what else can happen.”
According to experts, the exercise of journalism in Latin America is difficult for reasons that range from the lack of protection, little economic income for work, harassment and harassment by the authorities and other entities, among other obstacles.
“The situation has really deteriorated in the region, I think we are returning to times of a critical situation, since the threats of authoritarian governments, frankly dictatorial, have multiplied. The examples of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela are the most relevant in the region,” says César Ricaurte, director of Fundamedios, a non-profit organization that works to protect free expression and journalists in Latin America.
Fundamedios is a non-profit organization that promotes the free exercise of journalism and freedom of expression.
According to the organization Reporters Without Borders, in its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, journalists around the world are facing an increasingly hostile environment.
The situation in Nicaragua
The journalist Karen Díaz López, 26 years old and who has worked for two years in The Pressrecalls how Nicaraguan authorities raided the newspaper’s facilities in Managua and arrested Juan Lorenzo Holman, the general manager.
“We are in the fight to continue reporting, denouncing each of the government abuses that even led the entire editorial staff into exile. The PressDiaz Lopez said.
The Nicaraguan government did not respond to questions from the voice of america for this report.
The most recent report prepared by the organization Voces del Sur and the Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy recorded that between January and March 2023, at least seven Nicaraguan journalists were forced to go into exile due to constant sieges and intimidation by the who were victims.
“It has been very fast and we went from seeing that there were certain elements to continue practicing journalism within Nicaragua, to a situation in which there are no longer any conditions,” said Ricaurte, who warns that the phenomenon of journalism in exile is seen also in countries like Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba and Venezuela.
According to the United Nations, the purpose of World Press Freedom Day is to promote the defense of journalistic work and commemorate those journalists who lost their lives in the performance of their work. However, 30 years have passed since the call and the security, information and protection challenges for communicators continue.
The call of international organizations and defenders of freedom of expression conclude that a free press “is vital for the daily life of citizens, it informs you and is one of the pillars of democracy,” says Ricaurte.
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel YouTube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter e Instagram.
1683547422
#Journalistic #exercise #threat #Latin #America #Fundamedios