Photo: SALVADOR MELENDEZ/AP PHOTO/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
The Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) denounced the “arbitrary” retention of three journalists
of the newspaper La Prensa Gráfica (LPG) by police and soldiers while covering the construction of a prison in the eastern part of the Central American country.
According to an alert published on the APES social networks, about thirty agents of the National Civil Police (PNC), military and custodians “arbitrarily detained an LPG team” for more than two hours.
“The journalists were covering the progress in the construction of the new prison,” but “they were intervened” by state agents, who “asked for identification and their equipment,” the organization said. The APES denounced that “they forced to delete all the photographs and videos that they had taken from their cell phones, cameras and drones”.
“The agents also tried to seize his equipment and they checked their phones, violating their privacy. The journalists were detained for more than two hours, and after the detention was made public, they let them go,” the organization said.
The press union demanded “that the authorities respect the free exercise of journalism in El Salvador and investigate the events that occurred” and showed its solidarity with the affected group.
Complaints against freedom of the press
In August 2022, the APES He also publicly denounced that PNC agents detained “without justification” the photojournalist Yessica Hompanera , who was released after the intervention of a group of colleagues from the media outlet for which he works.
Also, in August 2021, the APES indicated a similar action against journalists from the newspaper El Mundo and the Salvadoran Telecorporation (TCS).
The Association registered a t otal of 675 cases of violations of journalistic practice in El Salvador between 1200, year in which Nayib Bukele assumed power, and 2022.
An APES report details that at the end of 2019 They registered 77 cases of attacks on journalists, in 2022 were counted 12 violations and in 2021 the number of cases amounted to 219.
The Violations range, according to APES records, from physical and verbal threats to blocking access to public information, intimidation and restrictions on journalistic practice.
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