The Government of the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, revoked the visa of the Cuban journalist and actress Alondra Santiago, under the argument that The communicator, who in the electoral campaign positioned herself in favor of Correista candidate Luisa González, allegedly committed acts that threaten the security of the State.
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“What was previously fake news, today became reality. I received a ‘visa revocation’ notification from the Foreign Ministry,” Santiago wrote on his X social network account.
What was once fake news, today became reality. I received a notification of ‘visa revocation’ from the Foreign Ministry.
He considered that “this is undoubtedly an attack on freedom of the press/expression. This government wants to silence me at all costs but I will NOT remain silent. That has never been an option.”
“In the face of abuse and excessive power, it will be justice that puts a stop to this arbitrariness,” he concluded in a message that has gone viral on social networks with response messages mostly of support for the journalist.
Daniel Noboa, president of Ecuador.
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In the message, Santiago accompanies the Foreign Ministry document in which It is noted that “he has committed acts that threaten public security and the structure of the State.”
Foreign Ministry confirms the decision: what does it say?
The press department of the Foreign Ministry confirmed the veracity of the document published on social networks by Santiago and requested consult the Ministry of the Interior about the reasons for the decision since they were based on a report from that institution.
The Andean parliamentarian Cristina Reyes expressed solidarity in her X account with Santiago, while repudiating and rejecting what she called a “xenophobic and authoritarian act that attacks journalism and freedom of expression.”
“What awaits us in a country where the government seeks to silence its critics? Do they want to silence those who think differently? Where is democracy?” he asked.
He noted that “It is outrageous that journalists are persecuted with the complicity of Ministries, yesterday it was Los Irreverentes, today Alondra, tomorrow anyone who criticizes it. All this while the country finds no direction and crime acts with total impunity”he said in reference to the cancellation of a television show two weeks ago.
On June 13, the Andean Foundation for Media Observation and Study (Fundamedios), one of the organizations that seeks to ensure press freedom in Ecuador, warned that it sees with “growing alarm” certain “authoritarian” features of the Government from Noboa.
And he showed his concern about the political analysis and opinion program ‘Los irreverentes’ going off the air, which had been broadcast on a television channel since January 2023, when Guillermo Lasso governed (2021-2023).
Headquarters of the National Assembly of Ecuador.
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María Sol Borja, a member of the program, then told EFE that The channel attributed the closure of the space in which it participated and which had a daily broadcast to “pressure from the Government.”
Regarding the case of Santiago, Borja said this Tuesday: “This is crazy. They revoked Alondra Santiago’s visa and accused her of committing ‘acts that threaten public security and the structure of the state’. Who looks at the sky because Alondra ‘ “he falls badly’ or ‘he’s not a journalist but an activist’ is endorsing a brutal abuse of power.”
Fundamedios also rejected the decision against Santiago and requested “the review of the administrative act of the Vice Ministry of Human Mobility, by which the indefinite visa of the activist, communicator, actress and journalist Alondra Santiago is revoked by accusing her of ‘acts that threaten the structure of the state and public security’, without any other explanation”.
“We consider that this act constitutes an abusive use of state power and attacks freedom of expression,” Fundamedios noted in its X account.
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