Latin America is continent where press freedom has deteriorated the most: Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela are worst cases

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Latin America was the continent where press freedom deteriorated the most in 2021, with a particularly palpable worsening of the situation in Brazil and El Salvador, according to the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) annual report published on Tuesday April 20.

The worst-ranked Latin American countries are Cuba (171, the only in the black – unfree – zone of the list), Honduras (151, down 3 places) and Venezuela (148, down 1 place).

The coronavirus health crisis, which has served as an excuse in numerous countries to render journalists’ work even more difficult, has been particularly used in Latin America, said RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire.

“Several heads of state, such as Maduro in Venezuela or Bolsonaro in Brazil, have spread false information, including about Covid, or have accused journalists of spreading false information,” said the head of the press freedom organization.

Censorship accelerator

The pandemic has served as a “censorship accelerator” and has justified “serious obstacles to access to information” on the continent, according to the report, which reveals that 73% of the world’s countries typically hinder journalistic work.

After having slipped 2 places last year in the RSF list, Brazil fell another 4, to 111th place, and entered the red zone, moving it closer to the group of countries where journalists’ situation is the worst.

President Jair Bolsonaro tried to block all access to the official pandemic figures, whose incidence he has stubbornly downplayed, thereby creating tensions with the media.

“The toxic context in which Brazilian media professionals work since Bolsonaro came to power in 2018 largely explains this deterioration,” reads the report, which accounts “insults, stigmas and public humiliations orchestrated” by the government or its acolytes.

The eruption of the health crisis has intensified these attacks in order to conceal his “disastrous” management. The President has persisted in spreading false news, such as the efficacy of an anti-parasitic drug against Covid, while criticizing restrictions to limit the spread of the virus. Faced with the official lie, the country’s main media established an alliance in June 2020 to collect data from the authorities in 26 states.

El Salvador’s collapse

The other poor case of the year was El Salvador, which, after dropping 8 places to 82nd, was among the countries in the world which plummeted the most, as a result of obstacles  imposed on those who wanted to report on Covid.

“Confiscation of journalistic material by the forces of law and order, prohibition of access to public spaces, lack of transparency in access to public information, refusal of presidential officials to answer questions at press conferences or a ban on interviewing state representatives on this issue” are some of the facts denounced by RSF.

These same obstacles emerge in other countries such as Guatemala (116th place), where president Alejandro Giammattei recommended “quarantining” the media, but also in Ecuador (96th), Nicaragua (121st), Honduras (151st) or Venezuela (148th), where Maduro “has toughened the work of journalists.”

In Mexico (143), which continues to be one of the main cemeteries for journalists in the world, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador continues to stigmatize journalists in his morning press conferences when they publish information contrary to his interests.

In Peru (91) or Argentina (69), authorities have used the court system to persecute media or journalists and in Colombia (134) they have paid for defamation, intimidation and harassment campaigns against reporters, while coverage of demonstrations in Chile (54) has become a risky job.

Cuba (171) remains the worst country on the continent in terms of press freedom, the only one in the black zone of the list.

Below is the complete ranking of press freedom in Latin America and the Caribbean countries (the rank shown is among all countries in the world):

5. Costa Rica

18. Uruguay

50. Dominican Republic

53. Belize

54. Chile

69. Argentina

77. Panama

82. El Salvador

87. Haiti

91. Peru

96. Ecuador

100. Paraguay

110. Bolivia

111. Brazil

116. Guatemala

121. Nicaragua

134. Colombia

143. Mexico

148. Venezuela

151. Honduras

171. Cuba

Source: Infobae