Ecuador’s military is accused of restricting press access and demanding ‘positive’ news coverage
Human Rights Watch warned Wednesday that Ecuador’s military command is putting “unconstitutional restrictions” on the news media in its coverage of operations in which the armed forces assist police in law enforcement actions. HRW also claimed that reporters have been physically attacked while they were attempting to do their jobs.
Reporters are being denied access to military command press events for not depicting the military in a “positive light.”
According to HRW, the head of Ecuador’s Joint Command of Ecuador’s armed forces, Henry Delgado, has instructed commanders to “evaluate and restrict if necessary journalists’ access to events and press briefings.”
Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Americas director, wrote on X that excluding media or journalists from coverage based on an institution’s view that their stance is “opposed or harmful to its image” undermines basic freedoms. She said the measures “filter media by editorial position, punish criticism, seek to control public discourse and censor the press,” and described them as practices typical of institutions that “fear public scrutiny.”
She added: “They want the media to act as a PR agency for the military, reporting only the news that puts the armed forces in a positive light.”
Ecuadorian press-freedom groups are also criticizing the new guidelines. Media watchdog Fundamedios called them “an act of censorship” and said they amount to “the imposition of an unacceptable state of prior censorship incompatible with a democratic society.” In its statement, Fundamedios suggested that the government is attempting “damage control” as a result of its failure to reduce organized crime in Ecuador.
Reporters from two newspapers report being physically restrained from attending recent military press conferences in Quito. “I was blocked from attending a briefing Monday and was told I was not welcome since my reporting was detrimental to the armed forces,” claims Carlos Ramos, a reporter for Guayaquil newspaper El Universo. “My job is to report the news, whether it puts the military in a good light or not and I am not allowed to do that.”
Asked about the new restrictions, Ecuador’s Defense Ministry said the armed forces have the “authority to issue their own communication guidelines,” but that this does not exempt them from providing transparent and timely information about actions taken in defense of the country, and it reaffirmed a commitment to press freedom.
