Bolivia

The violent protests of February 12 and 13 which left 31 dead, affected the government’s credibility and the stability of the democratic system. The executive branch said there was an attempted coup d’etat and effort to overthrow the president. This would have to be proven through investigations. Several journalists were injured in the disorders, including a cameraman of the Television network UNITEL, but none was seriously hurt. Journalists’ associations reported that the government, using the office of the president and the Communications Agency, pressured the media not to publish criticism. A worrisome event was a declaration by the Chamber of Deputies on December 12 accusing the newspaper La Razón of La Paz of an “alleged campaign of disparagement” and saying it rejected “the manipulation of biased information” in the newspaper “against the prestige of the legislative branch.” La Razón said it had simply reported an increase in the lower chamber’s budget, an extra monthly bonus for deputies, the announced purchase of 11 brand new vehicles for the chamber, the purchase of a full insurance plan for legislators and their families and the existence of 4.4 million Bolivian pesos with no specific purpose in the budget for the previous legislative session. The paper’s report also noted that the president of the chamber criticized one of its reporters, saying that when he was an employee of the chamber he had not reported the increase in the budget.