Francis could disappoint many in visit to Ecuador

The biggest question about Pope Francis’ visit to Ecuador, which may also give us a hint of what he’ll say when he travels to Cuba in September, is whether he will criticize one of the worst violators of freedom of the press in the hemisphere. Unfortunately, there are widespread fears that he won’t.

Ecuador, the first stop of a seven-day South American tour that will also take the Argentine-born pontiff to Bolivia and Paraguay, has been recently described by the InterAmerican Press Association (IAPA) as the country with the most repressive media gag law in the Americas. Freedom House, another advocacy group, describes Ecuador in its 2015 world map of freedom of expression as “not free.”

Under a 2013 law championed by Ecuador’s populist president, Rafael Correa, Ecuador has created a de facto press censorship system, under which independent media are subject to huge monetary fines and are forced to publish government rebuttals if their articles are deemed to be unfair by a newly created government agency in charge of supervising the media.

Under the new media gag law, the government has started at least 270 legal cases against independent media, according Ecuador’s Fundamedios freedom of the press watchdog group. In one case, the daily El Universo was slapped with a $350, 000 fine, Fundamedios reported.

To continue reading this article click The Miami Herald