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Pressures and repression in Bolivia

The information battle in Bolivia where journalists and the media are at the center of a struggle for influence.

Coup d'état or no coup d'état? It is on this cleavage that the media are separating since President Evo Morales gave up his position under the pressure of the army and the police. The Argentinean daily Pagina 12 notes that it is not only a " semantic discussion " but a " journalistic positioning ". If you are talking about " institutional crisis " or " political transition ", then you are giving the opportunity to the de facto government that settled in La Paz under Jeanine Anez's self-proclaimed presidency. But if you prefer the term coup, like the National Union of Journalists in France, then you are on the same line as President Morales, a refugee in Mexico City. Some will say that he did not respect the result of a referendum in 2016, which forbade him to run for a fourth term, and that the October elections are tainted with irregularities. The others will answer that everything has been done to get this start, which looks like a coup.

The problem is that beyond words, there are the facts. And there, we must be blind not to see the repression on November 15 indigenous demonstrations in Cochabamba where 5 farmers were killed. Or 19, in Alto, near La Paz, where several demonstrators died during the unblocking of a refinery. We must also be blind not to see that the nostalgic right, Bible in hand, like the high-profile Luiz Fernando Camacho, nicknamed the "Bolsonaro" Bolivian, and poor classes of Indian origin closer to the Pachamama , the sacred land. Since 2006, they know what they owe to Evo Morales: a 25% drop in the poverty rate and a growth of 5% per year. We could talk about a Bolivian miracle!

The facts are often honestly recounted by the special envoys but corrected by what Pagina 12 calls " remote interpretation " of presenters or editorial writers. In Bolivia, journalists are also attacked or even attacked by law enforcement officials or protesters. Premises are ransacked and shows interrupted as for Unitel, Bolivia TV or Radio Red Patria Nueva. And according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), dozens of daily newspapers such as Los Tiempos or Pagina 7 have had to suspend their printed version for distribution reasons. " Freedom of the press is in great danger in Bolivia, " says RSF. The de facto government has declared that it will act according to the law against journalists who support sedition. If it's not a coup d'etat, it looks more and more like it.

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