New attacks on the press reveal intolerance in the polarized Bolivia of the party of Evo Morales

At least two new attacks on journalists have been reported in Bolivia during the coverage of the strike against a questioned law, which has led to clashes between protesters, the Police and sectors related to the ruling party.

The National Press Association (ANP), which brings together the owners of the country’s main print media, identified a case in Santa Cruz and another in Cochabamba on Wednesday.

In the first incident, the cameraman for the television network Unitel Ángel Justiniano Saucedo was affected in Santa Cruz, when this Tuesday “suffered a contusion to the back of his right leg“Caused by a tear gas projectile”shot by a policeman”.

Justiniano considered that the policeman who wounded him “did it deliberately“Since the projectile reached him directly, the ANP said in a statement.

The other case in Cochabamba affected Lucio trujillo, a journalist for the radio station Erbol, when a group of protesters identified with the heavy transport sector rebuked him for recording images of the protest with his mobile phone.

The protesters demanded that he hand over his phone and reviewed the content, despite the fact that Trujillo showed them the documents that accredit him as a journalist.

These two incidents are in addition to the complaints of other journalists who, since Monday, have covered the indefinite strike in several cities of the country, where several injured and detainees are already reported.

In Oruro, a group of journalists demanded guarantees for their work after suffering attacks on Monday when the Police violently repressed the strike and denied them entry to the main square.

The National Association of Journalists of Bolivia on Tuesday repudiated the attacks “physical, verbal and psychological”Suffered by informants from Potosí, Oruro and Santa Cruz, who have been covering the national strike since Monday.

In Potosí, the journalist Dilver Soria, from the Red Pío XII radio station, “was hit by a firecracker that pierced his vest”And an attempt was made to destroy the work teams of Manuel Soux and other reporters, according to the ANPB.

According to the entity, among the aggressors was the president of the Departmental Assembly of Potosí, the ruling party Marcial Ayali, who urged “his supporters against the blockades, blamed journalists for the crisis of November 2019” and described them as “sold ”And“ coup plotters ”.

A couple of weeks ago in the Santa Cruz region the kidnapping and torture of several reporters, civilians and police at the hands of an armed group was reported. The investigation of the case has not yet found those responsible.

The media and journalism in Bolivia are in the crossfire of a persistent political polarization since the crisis of 2019, in which the government says there was a “coup“, While for the opponents a”electoral fraud”After the failed elections of that year.

Several high-ranking government officials and union leaders from sectors related to the ruling party have accused the media of defending the so-called “coup plotters” and of manipulating information, while journalists’ unions have accused the Luis Arce Administration of following the line of former president Evo Morales against journalistic work.