The presidents and directors of public media of the Latin American and Caribbean countries, members of the ALBA-TCP, represented in different formats (television, radio, newspapers, national news agencies and multimedia channels) held a virtual meeting on May 31st 2021, to create a permanent joint mechanism in order to defend the political sovereignty of the ALBA countries as a bloc, take a leap towards Communication 3.0 and address the challenges of tele-education in pandemic times.

The thirty-six media gathered today decided to deploy a joint campaign in support of the Resolution to be adopted on June 23rd by the United Nations General Assembly, in order to condemn the criminal unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States against Cuba, which were intentionally intensified during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of blocking access to medicines, supplies and equipment necessary to face this global health emergency.

During this meeting, participants also rejected the persistent brutal repression by the security forces of Iván Duque’s government, disregarding the calls for national dialogue by the Colombian people and embarking instead on a spiral of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, rapes, and state and parastatal violence against protesters.

Deeply concerned about the violations of the right to life, to freedom of peaceful assembly, to freedom of expression and the arbitrary censorship imposed by the Colombian media, both public and private, which have purposefully silenced the repression and distorted the meaning of the protest in the eyes of the world, the presidents of the public media of ALBA-TCP countries have pledged – in the exercise of freedom of press – to show the truth of the events taking place in Colombia and to urge the cessation of violence and police and military repression.

Caracas, June 2nd 2021