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In Washington D.C. on August 31 2021, organizations that defend human rights and freedom of expression raised their voices to demand the immediate release of journalists detained in Latin America. The National Press Club Freedom of the Press Committee, Fundamedios, Voces del Sur, Race & Equality, the Inter American Press Association, The Inter-American Dialogue, Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), IFEX-LAC, PEN-America, PEN-International, AMARC-LAC, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (SRFOE) of the Inter American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), joined their voices to demand governments in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela to stop harassment against the press.
John Donnelly, Chairman of the National Press Club (NPC) Freedom of the Press Team, opened the event highlighting the NPC’s concern on the conditions journalists face in Latin America and stated that “The National Press Club calls for the release from jail or any journalists who are being held right now. Journalism is not a crime”.
Dagmar Thiel, CEO of Fundamedios, spoke in representation e of Voces del Sur, a network of freedom of expression defenders in 13 Latin American countries and denounced the precarious and unsafe environment in which media workers in the Americas do their job. “Journalists are subjected to killings, kidnappings, arbitrary detention, exile, imprisonment, and judicial harassment while facing online threats and attacks. In the last 20 months, at least 27 journalists were killed across Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Venezuela.”
Currently there are 11 journalists in jail and several more under house arrest in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela. Journalists from those countries referred to the cases of their peers and urged the support of the international community demanding their freedom.
The Nicaraguan Univision journalist, Tifani Roberts, recalled that since the massive protests of 2018 there was a dramatic change in how the regime of Daniel Ortega treated dissident voices in Nicaragua. In June 2021, the executives and former workers of the Violeta Barrios de Chamorro Foundation were investigated and arrested under false accusations of money laundering. Persecution against independent journalists has since worsened. That is why there is a massive exodus of journalists from Nicaragua. «Every journalist that remains still in Nicaragua has an exit plan. Everybody knows that they are going after you. They do not harass you on the street, they send cops to stand in front of your parent’s home, they chase your wife, and your kids when they go to school. It has become unlivable.» said Roberts.
That happened to Miguel Mendoza a sports journalist who used to say his opinion to his fans “he was a firecracker in social media and they arrested him, like kidnapping, nobody has seen him. The only reason we know it is because the Police put out a notice saying he was arrested.” As of August 31, Miguel Mendoza has been in jail for 71 days and without a court order.
Anibal Toruño, the owner of Radio Dario, the independent radio station in the city of Leon that was burned down, portrayed the lack of access to information in Nicaragua. He mentioned the government’s strategy over the past three years is the destruction, confiscation, search and seizure of equipment, and persecution of journalists or families. “More than 23 media outlets in Nicaragua have closed, either due to economic pressures or shut down with a court order. More than 18 talk shows with independent content have been canceled, and 150 journalists are in exile, 34 of them just in the last few weeks.”
«Since April 2018 more than half of the reporters fled Nicaragua because they were facing some kind of threat,» said the Nicaraguan journalist and recalled that the latest victim was newspaper La Prensa, the oldest and most important newspaper in the country, which was taken over by the Police and its director is under arrest on fabricated criminal charges. «In Nicaragua, it is the police who persecute journalists. Our homes, our children, our parents’ homes, our jobs,» said Toruño. We demand their freedom and proof of life for those that have been illegally taken and kidnapped by the totalitarian government.
The situation of Nicaragua mirrors that of Cuba. . The country saw a recent uproar of their citizens demanding civil liberties in the streets. Armando Chaguaceda, a human rights scholar and columnist for the Havana Times, said that there is a citizen journalism movement developing in Cuba, but the government is repressing it. Under the guise of “disrespect” to the government, three journalists or influencers have been arrested. They are Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca, Yoandy Montiel, and Esteban Rodriguez. Chaguaceda stated that Rodriguez has been infected with COVID19 twice while in custody. He also condemned the situation for those who suffer house arrest. Women journalists Camila Acosta, Luz Escobar, and Mary Carla Ares face especially harsh confinement.
For Armando Chaguaceda it is important “to understand the situation in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, not as a struggle from the left or the right, it is not an ideological struggle, it is a political struggle between autocracy and democracy. Understanding this point of view allows us to express solidarity with all journalists independent of the government that represses them.”
Carlos Roa, in the representation of the Venezuelan Association of Journalists Abroad, spoke about the way in which the regime of Nicolás Maduro applied a systematic dismantling of press freedom in Venezuela. “At the moment there are 13 journalisms in prison or under probation in Venezuela,” among them, Roland Carreño, who completed 10 months in prison on Thursday, August 26. He is charged with the alleged crimes of «conspiracy, criminal association, financing terrorism, and possession of weapons of war» A court admitted the charges during a hearing on July 9.
Reporter Eduardo Galindo, who wrote about the fuel shortages in the region, is on probation and has to check in with auhorities every 15 days. There has been no development on his trial for over a year, in which he is r accused of allegedly publishing false information and resisting authority. Meanwhile, journalist and activist Luis Carlos Díaz was accused by Maduro’s second in command, Diosdado Cabello, of participating in a right-wing conspiracy that led to the current electrical outages across the country, in 2020. Díaz was charged with “instigating crimes” and released on the condition that he would report to intelligence officials every week; he is also prohibited from leaving the country or speaking publicly about his detention. Finally, Photojournalist Jesús Medina has been arrested several times since 2017, he was released in 2020 with the prohibition of leaving Caracas and the obligation to remain on parole. He cannot speak about his case. He was charged with alleged financial crimes and incitement to hatred.
Luz Mely Reyes, a journalist who has not been able to return to her country for the last two years, called the current situation a pandemic of censorship and self-censorship. After receiving intimidating threats and attacks, journalists cease their professional practice for a time and look for shelter. Venezuelan journalists work confined to their homes without core utilities selectively blocked by the government. “Think about being in your house without electricity, water or internet. That is how journalists work every day” and she added, “think of leaving your home with a suitcase and crossing the border in front of armed people not knowing if you will be able to return someday, hoping that your persecutor has forgotten you because he is chasing a different prey.”
To close the discussion, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, Pedro Vaca, expressed extreme concern on the lack of conditions to exercise journalism in Latin America and particularly, in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and how it affects the free flow of information. The Special Rapporteur called on the international community to protect and stand up for journalists “the hemisphere has the democratic duty to be aware of the example that these three countries set s and the impact it could have in the region and the potential for replication of authoritarianism, and for inspiring others.”
Supporting documents and pictures https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16sD2L8jArBxgk9v5CnrSYvalW5tgHg1h?usp=sharing
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