Ecuador
Journalists silenced by governmentPosted Feb 9 2011
Ecuadorian government officials have been targeting journalists the past couple of months in an attempt to silence broadcasters and print journalists of any oppositions to the government.
According to research collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists, this has been a common practice under President Rafael Correra. One of the latest instances included a rebuttal toward the host of the political news program, Los Desayunos, on the private network, Teleamazonas. The host of the program, María Josefa Coronel, was interrupted for the third time during her critiques of the government, reports Peruvian newspaper, La Republica.
Government officials ordered the interruption of the show’s broadcast in order to air a two-minute rebuttal to Coronel’s comments. The rebuttal included three women voicing their criticisms of Coronel’s comments.
Another separate attempt by the government to stop what it sees as attempted sabotage and terrorism came in the form of the detainment of former radio director of the La Voz de Arutam and current indigenous leader of the Shuar Federation, José Acacho. According to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Acacho was arrested due to charges of sabotage and terrorism brought against him “because he allegedly used the radio station to instigate public protests.”
The Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo reports that about a hundred indigenous Amazons protested the incarceration of Acacho and other indigenous Shuar leaders who were arrested and accused of sabotage and terrorism as well. The newspaper reports that Francisco Shiki, the president of la Federación de Centros Shuar (The Central Shuar Federation), says, “We shall make the country tremble, we will make the thunder strike, prepare yourselves.”