Media associations and journalist unions strongly condemned the appearance of envelopes with explosive devices in various media newsrooms in Quito and Guayaquil.
The envelopes with explosives They were sent to five journalists, four of whom received the package, and one of them even exploded when the journalist and presenter Lenín Artieda was analyzing it, when he was in the news department of the Ecuavisa television channel.
The threats were directed at television stations such as Ecuavisa, Teleamazonas and TC Televisión. In addition to against the journalist Miguel Rivadeneira, who accredits 44 years of professional practice and conducts a radio program.
“It is a threatening message to try to intimidate the messages that we have been raising, that it is honest, responsible journalism, the exercise of a journalism of civic, peaceful, democratic resistance, in search of the truth and that, of course, that makes us uncomfortable. to corrupt sectors, which has grown substantially in Ecuador,” said Rivadeneira, who received an envelope with an alleged explosive, to the Voice of America.
The journalist remembers that he received an envelope on Thursday, with a USB memory, which was opened, without finding anything relevant inside. But when he found out about the explosion in Ecuavisa, he realized that it was a shipment of the same nature.
“Immediately, this Monday, I handed it over to the police, who examined it and determined that it was a pen drive with an explosive inside,” explained Rivadeneira, who advocates an exhaustive investigation and who assures that he has been in contact with the authorities, but that no type of protection has been formalized for him.
For his part, Hugo Pineda, secretary of the National Union of Journalists, says that the union is concerned, but that the fact is not going to censor them. On the contrary, he maintains, it is an opportunity to continue reporting.
“This is not going to stop us, it is not going to silence us, on the contrary, it shows us that we are advancing on the right path, a coherent path; giving truthful, accurate, timely, contrasted, certified information to our audience,” said the secretary to the VOA.
And he adds that, instead of weakening them, journalists have come together “through a common motivation that is freedom of expression, and -as unions, as journalists, as fellow communicators- we have firmly demanded in a way forceful and categorical, that the State authorities support us in our journalistic work”.
On Wednesday, the Latin American Information Alliance joined the rejection. In a statement, it condemned any violent act that affects press freedom: “We stand in solidarity with our sister channel Ecuavisa and vehemently reject any violent act that threatens press freedom.”
A day earlier, the president of the Inter-American Press Association (SIP), Michael Greenspon, and the president of the Freedom of the Press and Information Commission, Carlos Jornet, urged the government “to act promptly to find those responsible.”
And they indicated, in a joint statement, that the organization will remain “attentive to the development of this serious situation that leaves journalists and communication companies in a state of shock.”
The investigations
On Tuesday, the Ecuadorian government reported that identified the person that sent the envelopes with explosives.
Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters on Monday that the five packages contained the same flash drive with a trigger “and it is presumed that they were installed by the same person. The sender has been identified, it is the same sender”.
The State, through various institutions, activated mechanisms to protect the affected journalists, guarantee the free exercise of freedom of expression, and initiated an investigation for the crime of “terrorism.”
This was stated by Zapata, who announced the activation of the corresponding protocols and the generation of investigations.
Pineda also stated that “the protocols have been activated, together with the Prosecutor’s Office, to speed up these investigations and give due protection for the journalistic exercise” in Ecuador.
This is not the first attack against the press in Ecuador. In October 2022, the RTS television network was the victim of shootings in Guayaquil. Two years later, a stick of dynamite exploded next to the facilities of the Teleamazonas channel, in the same city.
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