Press freedoms at risk in Bolivia
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia – Despite a constitutional right to freedom of the press in Bolivia, journalists in this South American country are increasingly being pressured to censor themselves, and the situation is only getting worse, said the dean of communications at one of the nation’s largest universities.
“As journalists, we are scared about what we are producing because our government has control of justice,” said Ramon Fernandez, dean of communications at Universidad Autonoma Gabriel Rene Moreno in Santa Cruz. “It’s like we control ourselves because we don’t want to have justice troubles with our government.”
He referenced a book, Control Remoto, released in March 2013, by Bolivian journalist Raul Penaranda that explains the government’s strategy of buying out media outlets so that government officials have the overall say in media content. There is no law requiring public officials to release reports or information to anyone, like the Freedom of Information Act in the U.S.
“In our country, we have rights, and we are free to express our ideas, so I don’t think what our government is doing is correct … because we need to express what is happening in our country to our society,” Fernandez said through an interpreter. “Every single human in the world has this right to express their ideas in a free way.”
El Deber is one of Santa Cruz’s largest newspapers with more than 200 reporters. El Deber’s multimedia editor Esmir Cortez said that despite attempts by the government to repress journalists, it cannot take away the paper’s freedom, and reporters will still cover any relevant news.
Reporters at El Deber, one of the largest newspapers in Bolivia, work to meet their deadlines. With more than 200 reporters, they take shifts using the computers.
“We will do it because our society needs it, and we love our jobs,” he said through an interpreter.
Despite his confidence, Cortez expressed concerns for El Deber after witnessing government attempts to shut down a La Paz-based newspaper, El Diario, in response to that paper’s continuous coverage of the government’s wrongdoing.
El Deber is a daily newspaper based out of Santa Cruz. It is one of the most widely read papers in the nation.
“If we as a company always try to report what the government is doing wrong, maybe we will be abolished,” he said.
The Bolivian government has its own TV channel, newspaper and radio station to address the public.
“As a journalist, I don’t think the government is honest in its channel or newspaper,” Cortez said. “They just report what is good for them … not the wrong things they do.”
Reporter Alex Sortez has been practicing broadcast journalism at Santa Cruz’s Channel 11 for more than 20 years.
Reporter Alex Sortez takes notes as he covers an event to recognize faculty at UAGRM.
"Based on experience, you can conclude that you have to be very careful with your words,” he said, through an interpreter. “People will be paying attention to everything you say and everything you meant to say.”
He said that because Bolivia is so divided between pro- and anti-government sectors, journalists who are within government lines get persecuted by the opposition and vice versa.
“You will be persecuted from either side,” he said.
Sortez knows this all too well from being caught in the middle of several protests throughout his career.
Journalist Alex Sortez shows where pellets from Bolivian police guns put holes in his protective vest during a protest.
The most severe incident occurred in 2007 when Santa Cruz was seeking autonomy and staged an event called “One Million for Autonomy,” intended to gather a million supporters. Pro-government Bolivians from a rural area tried to block all the roads that gave access to the event. Journalists covering the event were caught in the middle and, at some point, started trying to escape.
“Fear. All you could feel was fear. We were all spread out everywhere,” Sortez said. “At that moment when everybody ran out and just kind of escaped, you were separated from your cameraman, you were separated from the driver, and we were trying to get rid of our vests or anything that said we belonged to the press.”
Sortez was not able to get away and was taken hostage by the group of pro-government, anti-autonomy Bolivians. They circled Sortez and the other captured journalists and threw stones, dried leaves and other objects at them. Sortez lost a lot of blood after a brick was thrown at his head.
“They took me to a gas station bathroom nearby, and they had lots of gallons of gasoline with them. Their intention was to burn up the place with us in it,” he said.
“I was trying to get ahold of my family, and I couldn’t. Calls wouldn’t go out, calls wouldn’t come in, and there was a point when the TV station knew were being held hostage, but they didn’t know where, and they didn’t know how to contact us.”
The hostages were let go, because some of the perpetrators realized that the TV station was not aligned with the opposition as they had thought. Sortez was able to get medical attention for his head and fractured bones in his foot.
Sortez is a member of Bolivia’s Federation of Journalists, an organization fighting for the rights of journalists – everything from getting paid for overtime hours to looking into legislation that prevents journalists from getting caught up in conflict as Sortez was.
He said that it is also difficult to get needed information from authorities. When journalists are denied information, citizens are denied as well.
“Usually, they will seek the mass media when they need to say something,” Sortez said, “but when you need specific information, it’s hard.”
 Bolivian student Jose Gonzales, Santa Cruz resident Yessica Vidal, and University of Arkansas student Blythe Nelson contributed to this report.
This story is part of the 2014 Lemke Abroad program for the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism at the University of Arkansas.