Volatile Bolivia Elections May Escalate Press Attacks
By Dánae Vílchez (The Committee to Protect Journalists)
HAVANA TIMES – For over two decades, Bolivian journalists have endured intimidation, legal harassment, and violence from political actors intent on silencing dissent. Now, journalists fear those attacks may intensify as the country races toward a hotly contested presidential election, in which no clear frontrunner has emerged.
“We’re not choosing between democracy and authoritarianism” said reporter Rodrigo Fernández from Radio Erbol, one of the most listened to radio stations in the country. “We’re trying to survive in a system where journalism is punished on all sides, not protected.”
When Bolivians head to the polls on August 17, it will be the first time in 20 years that the country’s ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party does not have a unified candidate on the ballot. Once led by former President Evo Morales for 14 years, a intensifying economic crisis and authoritarianism have splintered the party’s support. Leading in the polls are conservative businessman Samuel Doria Medina, conservative former President Jorge Quiroga, and MAS activist Andrónico Rodríguez. Morales and Bolivia’s current president, Luis Arce, are not running.
With polls showing Doria and Quiroga in the lead, the vote stands to reshape Bolivia’s economic future and political landscape after 20 years of MAS in power. Yet during a research mission to the country in June, journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists that their focus lies not on who wins, but on whether conditions for the press will finally improve.
In interviews with CPJ, journalists, editors, press associations, and the national ombudsman, expressed little faith that either MAS or opposition figures would reverse years of censorship, economic pressure, and violence. Some fear a MAS win could consolidate authoritarian practices, while others worry that a conservative government could also bring political retaliation. “Beyond who is in power, I cannot trust anyone to uphold democratic values,” said Juan Armando Macías, digital editor at Radio Erbol. “In this polarized context, we must commit to journalism and pluralism on our own terms.”
Violence and Lack of Protection
In the past five years, Bolivia has experienced an alarming rise in violence against journalists, particularly those covering protests and land disputes. Reported attacks have been carried out by supporters of the ruling MAS party, social leaders, and organized groups. For journalists, covering demonstrations are especially dangerous due to the widespread use of dynamite, a practice that became more common after it was decriminalized in 2016 under Morales. In 2019, camera operator Daynor Flores Quispe was injured while covering clashes between protesters and police in La Paz.
On May 3, 2025, journalist Ángela Ninoska Mamani and her son, camera operator Dahan Joaquín Vedia, were assaulted while covering a protest in Quillacollo, near Cochabamba, against garbage truck operations. The protest turned violent when a pro-government group attacked both demonstrators and press members. Mamani was beaten and robbed, and Vedia’s cameras were stolen. Mamani said police pressured her to mediate with her attacker, who later threatened her with sexual assault.
On October 28, 2021, seven journalists from different Bolivian media outlets were covering a land dispute in the eastern province of Guarayos when they were ambushed by a group of armed men. The attackers opened fire, beat the journalists, destroyed their equipment, and held six of them captive for nearly seven hours. The case became known as “Las Londras,” named after the property where the attack took place.
Percy Suárez, one of the journalists attacked, said the television station he worked for at the time failed to file a formal complaint or provide support. Legal proceedings were repeatedly delayed, and it was not until nearly four years later on July 9, 2025, that the trial officially began. It was later suspended when three of the attackers asked to be trialed under indigenous law, a legal system recognized by the Constitution that allows Indigenous peoples to administer justice according to their own norms and customs within their territory.
“I will not give up,” Suárez told CPJ. “I managed to record the faces of the attackers, and I will always fight for justice.”
Silvana Vicenti, an independent journalist who reports on environmental issues and land disputes, described facing threats after investigating the sale of indigenous territory to a fictitious micronation called Kailasa. After the story broke in March 2025, a community leader she had interviewed sent her an audio message warning, “You don’t know who you’re messing with.” Days later, Kailasa representatives reportedly showed up at the newsroom. “I felt unsafe,” she told CPJ, “but I didn’t trust the authorities enough to report it.”
Journalists said their outlets rarely provide legal assistance, safety protocols, or emotional support in the wake of violent incidents. “We are completely alone. There is no protection, no follow-up, no consequences,” one reporter said.
Press associations denouncing attacks in public statements are often the only voices raising concerns.
Economic and Administrative Pressure
A unanimous ruling by Bolivia’s Constitutional Court in May 2025 reaffirmed that no individual may serve more than two presidential terms, effectively barring former President Morales, who led the country from 2006 to 2019, from running again. Compounding his disqualification, Morales faces serious criminal allegations, including a statutory rape accusation involving a minor and an outstanding arrest warrant, adding legal pressure beyond constitutional limits.
During his presidency, the environment for press freedom deteriorated, with independent journalists facing stigmatization, legal harassment and exclusion from state advertising, fostering a climate of intimidation that journalists call “economic asphyxia.”
The government controls state advertising, allocating it almost exclusively to aligned outlets, local stations in many regions rely on funding from peasant federations (Coca plant farmers’ unions) or municipal authorities, which often condition support on political loyalty. The use of advertising as a reward for allies and punishment for dissenters has expanded steadily during the presidency of Morales, whose government branded independent media as enemies of the state.
In 2009, Morales publicly claimed there was an “exaggerated” level of press freedom in Bolivia and argued that “the press intimidates politicians, not the other way around.”
The National Association of Journalists (ANP), which represents many of the country’s major newspaper owners, warns that this form of economic control has become a tool for censorship.
“The government realized it can no longer shut down outlets with police or soldiers. That would be too obvious. Now they go after our finances,” said Jorge Carrasco, ANP president and publisher of the newspaper El Diario.
Journalists with independent outlets also told CPJ that advertisers have been harassed or threatened for placing ads in critical media. In addition, independent newspapers have been forced to publish official notices free of charge for over a decade, while also facing audits and punitive fines designed to weaken them financially by the National Tax Service and the Authority for the Oversight of Companies. These entities have targeted critical outlets with retroactive audits, excessive fines, and legal sanctions that media representatives describe as arbitrary and politically motivated.
Nancy Vacaflor, managing editor at Agencia de Noticias Fides, said tax and labor inspections have become a tool of intimidation. “They go line by line, invoice by invoice, trying to find a reason to penalize you,” she told CPJ.
Media owners and journalists say the real goal is to drown independent outlets in legal and financial pressure, forcing them to divert scarce resources toward compliance and legal defense.
Legal Vacuum and Information Deserts
Bolivia lacks a law guaranteeing access to public information. Although the Senate passed a bill in October 2024 that would force authorities to provide public information and create an entity to oversee these processes, it remains stalled in the Chamber of Deputies. In the absence of a legal framework, government institutions are not required to respond to information requests, allowing officials to deny access without justification.
In addition to legal barriers, journalists also face territorial restrictions. In regions like El Chapare, also known as the Trópico de Cochabamba, a joint investigation by ChequeaBolivia and Guardiana documented widespread censorship, intimidation, and coercion against local reporters. Powerful social organizations affiliated with former president Morales exert direct pressure on journalists, control local media outlets, and dictate editorial policies.
National media outlets like Radio Fides and Radio Erbol have been driven out and others are attacked when attempting to report in the area. Several journalists told CPJ that they avoid entering El Chapare out of fear of persecution or violence.
Smear Campaigns and Digital Harassment
State-aligned media and political figures in Bolivia have systematically used smear campaigns to discredit independent journalists. One of the most prominent examples is the label “Cartel de la Mentira” (Cartel of Lies), coined by Morales and his ministers to attack outlets that were critical of his government. The campaign included the production of a controversial documentary, coordinated online harassment, threats, doxxing, and the spread of disinformation.
Inés Gonzales, director of Radio Erbol, recalls how during Morales’s administration, their outlet, along with Radio Fides, both with ties to the Catholic Church, were assaulted between 2009 and 2019 after being publicly labeled as part of the so-called cartel.
“When journalists were identified as Erbol, they were attacked and harassed on the streets. One of them was even injured with a firecracker,” Gonzales said.
Ministers singled out these stations as opposition actors, creating a hostile environment that continues today, Gonzales said, noting that the stigmatization campaign has made journalists frequent targets of abuse across social media platforms and in the streets.
Raúl Peñaranda, director of Brújula Digital and former editor of the now-defunct newspaper Página 7, said that these attacks are part of a broader strategy to erode trust in independent media. The MAS government, including Morales and current President Arce, has framed critical outlets as deceptive and dangerous, generating a hostile atmosphere against the press, said Peñaranda.
Gender-Based Violence and Threats Against Women Journalists
Women journalists in Bolivia face specific and heightened risks, both online and offline. According to women journalists and press associations interviewed by CPJ these include sexual threats, targeted smear campaigns, and gender-based harassment from public officials, social movements, and even colleagues within the media.
Women reporters and media representatives interviewed by CPJ shared accounts of sexual harassment both in the streets and in the workplace, as well as threats of rape while reporting on sensitive topics such as protests and land disputes. The case of Ángela Mamani is emblematic: not only was she violently assaulted in public but she was also later threatened with sexual violence by the same aggressor, who acted with apparent impunity. Despite the seriousness of the attack, the journalist said police urged her to “mediate” with her attacker rather than pursue charges.
Online harassment also takes a distinct shape for women journalists, said Amparo Canedo, editor of the news website Guardiana. She added, due to the lack of gender-sensitive protocols within media organizations, women—especially indigenous women—are often criticized for their appearance and using their traditional Indigenous attire.
“Women journalists who denounce this [all types of violence] are frequently met with institutional apathy,” said Canedo.
This apathy, she warned, is part of a broader erosion of press freedom that is intensifying as Bolivia approaches its 2025 general elections.
“I don’t even want to imagine what will happen if Mr. Morales remains politically active after the elections… we’ve already lived through that,” said Canedo. “If journalists can’t access every part of our own country, then what are we even talking about? The whole country will become an information desert.”