Yesterday, in the Yellow Room or President Carondelet, President Guillermo Lasso awarded the National Order of Merit to former news anchor Alfonso Espinoza de los Monteros, for his career in television.

Don Alfonso Espinosa de los Monteros receives the National Order of Merit in the rank of commander. Photo: Hamilton Lopez

“Dear Alfonso, it is an honor to welcome you, your family and friends here at Carondelet Palace. (…) The right to freedom of expression is proven by engaging in journalism without gags, without threats, without pressure of any kind. Democracies are stronger when journalists are freer,” Lasso said during the ceremony. “Journalism is the greatest force to stop the authoritarianism, corruption and violence carried out by the despotic and populist governments that make a free press so uncomfortable.”

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Don Alfonso Espinosa de los Monteros replied that he accepted these principles since he started working in the media, first on radio and then on television. “When I entered radio, I was 17 years old“, he recalled. “So that they could understand the reason for my illusion. If I receive this recognition from the national government, it is because They consider me as someone who has been in this supreme cause of defending freedom of expression. I think I’ve done my best to get to this point, and if the time has come for me to step away from the television cameras, it’s for obvious reasons.

Photo: Hamilton Lopez

He assured that, wherever he was, he would continue to embrace these same ideals.

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This distinction in the rank of commander celebrates the work of Espinosa de los Monteros since in 1967, when he debuted in ecuavisa. It was highlighted during the presentation He got the Guinness record because he is anchor with many years on the air, without interruption. “For more than eleven decades, he brought news from the country and the world day in and day out.”