12 May 2023

IAPA Bot: A mournful week for Latin American Journalism

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Attacks on media and journalists were also reported in Argentina, Peru and Honduras.


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Miami (May 12, 2023) - Three journalists were murdered, one in Colombia, another in Haiti and the third in Mexico, mourning Latin American journalism this week.

The director of the Notiorense portal, Luis Gabriel Preira, was shot dead on Tuesday in the Colombian department of Córdoba and, in the Haitian town of Onaville, Paul Jean Marie, presenter of Radio Lumière, was murdered by individuals who invaded his home. On Thursday night, in Acapulco, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, gunmen shot dead photojournalist Gerardo Torres Rentería, a former Reuters, Telemundo and TV Azteca Guerrero employee.

Argentina was also red on the IAPA Bot map after attacks against journalists and cameramen of LN+ and C5N. The reporters, in the middle of their coverage, were beaten, threatened with firearms and stripped of their equipment. The events occurred in a Buenos Aires neighborhood that is the scene of conflicts between drug gangs.

IAPA Bot's alarm was also raised in Peru where the media outlet IDL Reporteros reported having received death threats after its headquarters was attacked by a right-wing extremist group. In the last few months IDL-R has suffered four attacks.

In Venezuela the government continues to shrink the already depressed media ecosystem. IAPA Bot registered the denunciation of the organization Espacio Público stating that in at least 13 of the 24 states of the country there are no independent media outlets.

On the other hand, the Association of Journalists of Honduras (CPH) filed a complaint before the Public Prosecutor's Office for the threats that journalists and media outlets receive on a daily basis. Also in Bolivia there have been multiple violations to freedom of expression and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights initiated a process against the Bolivian State.

The most influential tweet of the week was written by journalist Simon Ateba, who posted: "LATEST: @JoeBiden just denied The New York Post access amid #HunterBiden indictment speculation. Press freedom concerns intensify. The New York Post reported Monday that the White House press office denied the newspaper access to President Biden's public event earlier in the day, coinciding with Hunter Biden's possible indictment on tax fraud and other criminal charges." The post had more than 10 thousand retweets and 30 thousand "likes".


IAPA Bot is an artificial intelligence tool of the Inter American Press Association that monitors press freedom violations in real time. It tracks information published in the media, Google News, Twitter, and from a selection of IAPA notes and denunciations. In addition, it contains a heat map that allows observing the press freedom climate in each country, a button to make complaints, and a menu that highlights the statements of government leaders, citizens' conversations, and relevant events.

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 in the Western Hemisphere, based in Miami, Florida, United States.

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