Ecuador and Argentina, which fell 30 and 26 places respectively this year, are suffering the worst debacles on the continent
EFE/14ymedio, Madrid, 3 May 2024 — It is no surprise that in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report on press freedom in 2024 , Cuba is once again at the bottom of the world rankings and is the worst country on the continent. Its position, 168th out of 180, is five places behind Nicaragua and 12 behind to Venezuela, the three “bad students” of America according to the organization, which published the document on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, this May 3.
In general terms, the year has been bad for the continent, after the proportion of countries in a “fairly good” situation (yellow) fell drastically, from around 36% in 2023 to 21% in 2024.
Among those that come out worse, with a sudden decline, are Ecuador, which drops 30 places, to 110th; and Argentina, which goes from the 26th position to the 66th. The origin of this situation for Argentina is, mainly, the closure of the state news agency Telam. “The aggressive way in which Argentina’s newly elected President Milei addresses certain journalists demonstrates the hostility of this president towards the union,” Elena García, one of the RSF spokespersons, explained to EFE.
“Freedom of the press is not one of his priorities, since, a few months after coming to power, he closed the Telam press agency, important not only in Argentina but also in all of Latin America,” she added.
Two of the other most populated large countries in Latin America, Mexico and Colombia, have had improvements of a different magnitude.
Considered one of the most dangerous places to practice journalism in the last 30 years, Mexico has advanced seven places, rising to 121st (in the “difficult situation” range), although a recent RSF note criticized the lack of progress in security of informants during the mandate of the leftist President Andrés Manuel López-Obrador.
“In 6 years of this government there have been 37 journalists murdered and Mexico continues to be one of the countries in the world in which the exercise of journalism is most complicated and most dangerous,” García noted.
However, Colombia, under the mandate of Gustavo Petro, rose 20 places, to 119th, although this is not enough to leave the “difficult” classification.
In the annual ranking released today, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, RSF also noted a decline in freedom of information in other countries, such as Peru (-15 places, to 125th) and Guatemala (-11 places, to 138th), although the organization trusts that the newly elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, will contribute to an improvement. Meanwhile, El Salvador sinks 18 places, to 138th.
On the other side of the coin are Brazil, which rose 10 places to 82nd and Gabriel Boric’s Chile, which in the middle of his mandate has improved 31 places, to 52nd in the global ranking.
Costa Rica remains the highest-ranked Latin American country, 26th worldwide, giving it a press freedom rating of “acceptable.”
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