Homage to Pedro Joaquín Chamorro and other murdered journalists

As a homage to the Martyr of the Public Freedoms, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, and to denounce the impunity surrounding the murders of journalists in the Americas, Costa Rican documentary maker Alexander Arias placed part of his work at the site of the Chamorro’s murder 32 years ago. Arias is one of the participants in the 7th Central American Isthmus Visual Arts Biennial, which opened last night in the Rubén Darío National Theatre. The piece that he presents seeks to show the dangers that journalists face every day in doing their job, and especially those engaged in investigative reporting. Arias said that during the investigation he carried out to produce his documentary he found that in the last two decades the murder of a total of 369 journalists had been recorded, but in fact the number easily surpasses 600. The countries in the Americas where most deaths have been reported are Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Meanwhile, they have decreased in Brazil and Colombia, he said. He said that in this same period the reasons for journalists being killed have been changing. Before 1985 the causes of death were strictly political or ideological, but this has not been the case in recent years. He is also seeking to call attention to the issue of impunity, which, taking advantage of “gaps” in the law, those who murder journalists enjoy. Another of Arias’s objectives is for people to understand that the murder of a journalist is “a form of silencing,” to stop him or her reporting.