Vargas Llosa: Attacks against Venezuelan journalists must be reported

[naaman fletcher]

Peruvian-Spanish author Mario Vargas Llosa said on Wednesday that the world should be "alarmed" by the setbacks for freedom of speech in countries like Cuba, Venezuela or Bolivia. He warned that this right will "always be threatened" by "all forms of power."

The Nobel Prize winner made a special reference to Cuba, where "for more than 50 years" this right has not been respected and there is "no evidence" of any change in the situation. He also referred to Venezuela, where there are "fierce attacks" against media and journalists who resist "total blackout" despite the intimidation.

"We ought to report the attacks against independent Venezuelan journalists," Vargas Llosa said. He lamented that in other Latin American countries with governments "chosen in legitimate elections," freedom of expression has suffered a setback.

The winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature made these statements after receiving in Madrid the Award for the Defense of Freedom of Expression and Human Values granted by the International Association of Broadcasting.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/11/10/en_pol_esp_vargas-llosa:-attack_10A4713133.shtml