Defending Press Freedom | Press targeted amid protests in Ecuador

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPS) this week called for both the ­authorities and demonstrators in Ecuador to stop harassing and attacking journalists covering ongoing protests.

As protests against the Ecuadorian government’s move to end fuel subsidies entered their seventh day Wednesday, ­journalists and media outlets ­continued to be targets of ­violence and attacks from the ­authorities and protesters, according to local media. As of October 8, Fundamedios, an Ecuadorian press freedom organisation, had documented 59 violations against the press, including detentions, threats, and acts of violence.

Violence against journalists and press workers came from both the security forces – as CPJ documented on October 4 – and protesters and members of unions, social movements, and indigenous groups participating in the demonstrations, according to a joint statement by ­several Ecuadorian human-rights organisations, including the Regional Foundation of Human Rights Consultancy (Fundación Regional de Asesoría en Derechos Humanos, or INREDH), the Ecuadorian Commission on Human Rights (Comisión Ecuatoriana de Derechos Humanos), the Observatory of Rights and Justice, and Fundamedios. Several journalists and outlets reported on Twitter that violence from protesters had prevented them from covering events, including foreign outlets such as Noticias Caracol from Colombia.

“As events in Ecuador develop, it is of vital importance that authorities make sure that journalists can cover the demonstrations freely and without harm or retaliation from security forces, government officials, or demonstrators,” said CPJ South and Central America Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York.

“Groups participating in or ­policing the protests must understand the fundamental role that journalists play in reporting these events and refrain from ­preventing or in any way obstructing the work of the press.”

Taken from cpj.org

Some of the violations against journalists and media outlets covering protests in Ecuador

n October 4: Leyda Angulo, a correspondent for Radio Olímpica, and Geovanny Astudillo, a correspondent for TV Cisne, were detained by police while covering a protest in Nueva Loja, according to INREDH. They were released without charge after several hours, according to reports by local media and a Fundamedios post on Twitter.

n October 7: Jacqueline Rodas, a reporter for Ecuavisa, said in a tweet that she had been prevented by indigenous communities participating in the protest from covering the event taking place in the Arbolito park in Quito. Also that day, several radio and television stations went off the air in Tungurahua, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo, after indigenous leaders took over their antennas located in the Pilisurco hill, according to Fundamedios.

n October 8: Police detained Camila Martínez, who was working as a correspondent in Guayaquil for the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), during a protest taking place in the Urdaneta sector in Guayaquil, Apawki Castro, communications director for CONAIE, told CPJ. Martínez was charged with a misdemeanour for having “mistreated, insulted, or assaulted” a police agent and sentenced to five days in prison, according to Martínez’s lawyer, Abraham Aguirre, who spoke over the phone with CPJ. Aguirre confirmed to CPJ that Martínez remained detained at the Urdaneta Regiment in Guayaquil.

n October 8: The National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office raided the offices of radio station Pichincha Universal on charges of “inciting discord against citizens”, according to a statement posted by the outlet on Twitter. The station, which belongs to the Pichincha Prefecture, is currently held by a member of the political party Alianza PAIS, which opposes President Lenín Moreno and supports the demonstrations, according to Fundamedios.

CPJ called the Ecuadorian National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office for comment, but no one answered the phone.