Press Violations Reported in El Salvador

February 4, 2024 Hour: 11:15 am

The Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) reported on Sunday that 64 violations of the press prior to the electoral period between December 2023 and February 3 were recorded.

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APES, for the Spanish acronym of the union, said that in total there have been 25 damages to the workers of the Press. According to the president of the aforementioned association, Angelica Cárcamo, these violations refer to a recidivism of the same person who may have a case or a violation previously reported.

Angelica Cárcamo explained that there are three departments where journalistic work has been mainly violated, these are San Salvador, where there are 15 reported cases, the department of Morazán with 7 and Ahuachapán with 3.

#Internacionales �� | La situación de la libertad de prensa en El Salvador parece estar deteriorándose, según menciona la Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador (APES).

Más detalles aquí: https://t.co/XKh1TRAq2q pic.twitter.com/Du1gyZ9IAW

— República. (@republicagt)
February 3, 2024

The tweet reads, “The situation of press freedom in El Salvador appears to be deteriorating, according to the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES).”

The union specified that these attacks occurred mainly through social networks with 38 violations and one through Facebook. In terms of gender, APES points out that the most victims have been women, with 19 cases, while 18 are men.

Also, Cárcamo denounced that the media suffered some 18 collective violations and three cases of statements against the organization.

APES points first to public officials as the main aggressors against the press, and second to state security forces such as the Armed Forces; employees of security components, media aligned with the State and, to a lesser extent, political parties.

The source adds that compared to the electoral period of 2021, when 26 cases of violations of the press were registered, by 2024 the cases have decreased to 24, but have increased in violations.

For Cárcamo it is worrying not to have an interlocutor before the TSE, since there is no clarity on how the right to exercise journalism in the elections of February 4 will be guaranteed: “Because these elections are very peculiar, there is a risk that there will be unilateral decisions by those in charge of the polling centers and that they will be able to remove journalists that are not of interest to them”.