The announcement was made by Carlos Lauría, Executive Director of IAPA, during the organization’s 81st General Assembly held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Punta Cana (October 17, 2025) – The Latin American Network of Journalism in Exile (RELPEX), an initiative led by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) to support media outlets and journalists in situations of exile, displacement, or forced mobility, will continue its operations for two more years thanks to renewed support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other allies committed to defending press freedom in Latin America.
The announcement was made by Carlos Lauría, Executive Director of IAPA, during the organization’s 81st General Assembly held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. “This support will strengthen RELPEX’s three core programs, designed to assist journalists who have been forced into exile or displacement for carrying out their work in contexts of repression and censorship, and to offer them more dignified and stable conditions to continue their reporting,” said Lauría.
RELPEX operates through three main pillars:
Employability Program: Provides a job board and grants covering up to 50% of salaries for journalists hired by media outlets in their host countries.
Legal Assistance Program: Offers guidance and legal support for migration processes, asylum applications, and cases of judicial criminalization.
Emergency Response Program: Addresses critical situations faced by exiled journalists, such as prolonged unemployment, medical crises, or uprooting.
In its first year of operation, RELPEX has supported over one hundred cases through a collaborative model that coordinates efforts with international organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Thomson Reuters Foundation through its TrustLaw program, as well as Vita Activa, DW Akademie, IPLEX Costa Rica, UNESCO, and other allied entities. This network of cooperation has been essential in expanding the program’s reach and responding more effectively to the needs of displaced journalists.
Currently, 314 journalists from 14 countries are part of RELPEX, with Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, El Salvador, and Guatemala being the main countries of origin. Of these, 59% continue practicing journalism, while the rest face structural barriers to professional reintegration; only one-third hold stable newsroom jobs. These and other findings were presented in a special RELPEX report during the IAPA General Assembly.
Journalists in the network cover essential topics such as human rights, politics, gender, environment, and migration—issues that, in many cases, led to threats, persecution, or violence in their home countries. Among their most pressing needs are access to professional networks, training opportunities, and legal advice.
RELPEX reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that critical voices are not silenced and to supporting media outlets that, from exile, continue to report with courage and rigor. The renewal of this international support marks a firm step in the defense of freedom of expression and independent journalism in Latin America.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.