The president of the Communication Council of Ecuador, Jeannine Cruz, confirmed that the wave of threats against the journalistic union is growing and said that in less than two weeks three very serious alerts were received.
“The wave of threats is growing and deserves to have a response, especially from the Ministry of the Interior in the face of actions that can be taken in the future to avoid this kind of situation,” she told the local radio station Radio Sonorama.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Ecuador
She indicated that in less than two weeks three of the strongest alerts were received, one of which was the placement of explosives in a journalist’s vehicle.
The public threat was also recorded in an intimidating pamphlet against the owner of the newspaper El Extra, the newspaper with the largest circulation in the country, and the attack with firearms against the headquarters of the national television channel RTS, in the north of Guayaquil.
The current situation forced the call last week for a work table by the Communication Council with various entities in the country to articulate actions to protect the journalistic union.
“These situations lead us to faithfully comply with the provisions of article 42.1, which states that it is the Communication Council that has to coordinate with other institutions when the situation is complicated for journalistic work,” she said.
Regarding the Committee for the Protection of Journalists created in Ecuador, she explained that it has not been installed since 2018 and, on the other hand, the system for the protection of victims and witnesses of the Attorney General’s Office has been installed, it does not have resources. She specified that so far five members of the journalistic union have been requested to be included in the victim and witness protection system.
The State Attorney General’s Office, for its part, opened an investigation ex officio regarding the threat to the vendors of the newspaper El Extra and its distribution agencies of the newspaper in Esmeraldas, Machala, Cuenca and Guayaquil, as well as to the director of the newspaper.
In this regard, the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency expressed its rejection of any type of aggression and violent acts or intimidation against journalists and the media, considering that “they attack freedom of the press and expression, a fundamental principle of democracy,” according to the statement released.
Cruz questioned the recent attack by a police officer on a reporter from the Teleamazonas television channel in the context of the violent incidents recorded outside the Litoral Penitentiary.
“It cannot be that the state agents or those who have to protect the citizen order justly attack the media,” she pointed out.
Ecuador recorded this year the murder with a firearm of journalist Gerardo Delgado, director of the digital platform Ola Manta TV and candidate for councilman, who was attacked while driving his car.