Violent drug and street gangs and hostile governments are intimidating the press in Latin America restricting reporting on crucial issues and damaging democracy and prospects for improving the lives of the people. -DB
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
March 3, 2009
By Andy Blair and Ashley Wagner
Currently, the Latin American press is up against formidable odds. Local drug cartels, street gangs, and government corruption are severely confining the ability of the press to report freely on a range of controversial subjects. Restricted reporting and the practice of “soft censorship” lurk behind the scene where government censorship could be a dangerous notion, not just for individual countries but also for overall U.S.-Latin American relations.
If the press remains trapped in the grip of organized crime, threatened by drug cartels and governmental venality, then the quality of life throughout Latin America will be negatively affected. There are two primary routes in which the press succumbs to censorship: directly, as a result of government intimidation, and through gang violence; or indirectly, which includes self-censorship out of fear, lack of professional solidarity from one’s journalistic peers or a supportive management, and a deficiency of reliable investigative journalism due to an infinite capacity for self intimidation.
Is there hope for Latin American journalism? Possibly, if the U.S. lends a much needed hand by constructively taming down the intensity of its contribution to the drug war and gang violence. However, if Washington continues to mistreat the Western Hemisphere for another eight years by kindling the struggles which may not be in the regions’ or Washington’s best interest, the plight of Latin America can only worsen. In addition to addressing the issue of gang violence and drug wars, it is crucial that the U.S. acts as a role model by projecting a reputation for credibility when it comes to human rights issues, clean government, and matters of financial clarity in the region.
President Obama has a unique opportunity to mend this country’s foreign policy errors by working with Latin American leaders to ensure not only freedom of the press, but a balanced press. A free press would undoubtedly improve the quality of life in Latin America. In turn, an enhanced quality of life could lessen the desire for mass immigration to occur, which is currently leeching the countryside of the men and family structure needed to help raise their children, contributing to local strife and family breakdown.
The fight for a free press is long from over. Without an independent press, says the Open Justice Initiative, no country can enjoy the benefits of a vibrant democracy. Thankfully, there are organizations dedicated to achieving it and helping to right the cause. These groups have made press rights violations throughout the world a much more public matter.
For details of the situations in Cuba, Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico and Bolivia, click above on Council of Hemispheric Affairs.