During this period, journalists and independent media denounced aggressions and restrictions on their work, mainly covering issues related to gold extraction, land encroachment, and forest destruction.
The National Press Association (ANP) reported 75 aggressions against journalists and media during 2023, including attacks by miners on 11 journalists during cooperative protests in La Paz.
In November, the National Association of Journalists of Bolivia (ANPB) denounced that the state-run National Service of Protected Areas prohibited its staff from disseminating reports on forest deforestation, contravening the right to access information.
In December, journalists from Cochabamba and the ANP rejected the call of a police prosecutor to journalist Carmen Challapa from Radio Fides. They reiterated that the Constitution governs reporters' work, the Press Law, and their self-regulation tribunals, excluding processes in ordinary Justice.
The frequent threats from Nicolás Ramírez Taboada against the newspaper El Deber, from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, were denounced by the ANP, which demanded immediate action from the Justice system.
On December 18, a window of the building where the ANP operates was hit by an object thrown by unknown individuals from another building.
On December 28, journalist Iván Arraya, from the private television channel Unitel, reported that he and a cameraman were victims of an ambush organized by land usurpers who also attacked representatives of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Santa Cruz.
On February 29, the communicator for the Oruro Departmental Legislative Assembly, José Manuel Yugar, was beaten by two female assembly members who demanded he deletes images of violent actions recorded during a regular session after the attackers denounced the journalist and declared themselves victims of violence.
On March 6, the independent radio FM Bolivia, located in the Yungas of the La Paz department, was silenced by a Telecommunications Authority (ATT) resolution. The media's director, Galo Hubner, attributed the measure to the coverage of protests by coca leaf farmers against the governments of Presidents Evo Morales and Luis Arce.
On March 23, the state-run National Institute of Statistics (INE) refused to grant the centennial newspaper El Diario a vehicular circulation permit. It limited the number of authorizations to the newspaper El Deber during the population and housing census.
On March 26, the newspaper La Palabra del Beni, with offices in the city of Trinidad, suffered intimidation and harassment by officials from the Beni departmental government. The protesters demanded a retraction of a news story that warned about child abuse in a home managed by the Beni Government, which was based on information from a municipal authority responsible for child protection. Previously, in November, several journalists in Beni declared themselves in emergency due to frequent aggressions and demanded respect for their work.
The ANP demanded an investigation into three assaults against journalist and press freedom defender Milton Montero from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The reporter suspects the incidents aim to prevent his journalistic work on the University Channel and his reports of journalist attacks.
