{"id":57342,"date":"2026-06-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/?p=57342"},"modified":"2026-06-26T16:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:53:49","slug":"the-price-of-speaking-out-in-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/the-price-of-speaking-out-in-ecuador\/","title":{"rendered":"The price of speaking out in Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Silence in Ecuador is not accidental, it is the result of a strategy. While the country faces public sector layoffs, rising prices, and a sustained escalation of violence, political and social opposition appears to have faded. But this is not apathy. It is something else: an environment in which dissent is becoming increasingly costly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data help explain the current climate. According to the organization Fundamedios, more than 200 attacks against journalists were recorded in 2025 alone, many of them allegedly involving state actors. These are not limited to physical assaults, but form part of a broader ecosystem of pressure that includes legal proceedings, online intimidation, restrictions on access to information, and official rhetoric aimed at discrediting criticism. At the same time, several journalists have chosen exile or have toned down their investigations, as illustrated by the well-known case of journalist Alondra Santiago, who is now living in exile in Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The problem extends beyond the media. It is political. When criticism becomes risky, opposition ceases to be a democratic function and instead becomes an act of individual resistance. In that context, decisions that would previously have triggered widespread public mobilization\u2014such as tax increases, unpopular economic reforms, or changes to sensitive public policies\u2014now generate a far more muted social response than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the administration of Daniel Noboa, the discourse of order and security has dominated the public debate. And this is no minor issue: Ecuador is experiencing an unprecedented wave of violence in recent history. Yet this narrative has also served to push other urgent discussions into the background. When security becomes the overriding priority, everything else appears secondary, including the right to question those in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been accompanied by the increasingly frequent use of institutional tools in political disputes. While this is not unique to the region, it is becoming more noticeable in Ecuador: complaints filed against government critics, legal proceedings that appear to be activated selectively, and a growing perception that the justice system can be used as a mechanism of political pressure. A conviction is not always necessary; often, the process itself is enough. The case of Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez, the government’s main political opponent, who is currently imprisoned following judicial proceedings widely regarded as lacking credibility, illustrates this concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the media landscape has also changed. The concentration of media ownership, the financial struggles of independent outlets, and indirect forms of pressure have reduced the space available for sustained criticism. Some media organizations have moderated their editorial stance; others have disappeared or lost much of their influence. On social media, although voices are freer, they are also more fragmented, more volatile, and often more vulnerable to disinformation campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a quiet but profound phenomenon: the normalization of silence. Not because people have no opinions, but because they increasingly calculate when, how, and to what extent they should express them. It becomes an everyday calculation. Is it worth speaking out? What consequences might follow? Who is listening? That constant uncertainty is, in itself, a symptom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, democracies do not weaken solely because elections disappear, but because their checks and balances gradually erode. Political opposition, independent journalism, and public criticism are not decorative features of a democratic system\u2014they are its backbone. Without them, power ceases to be challenged and begins to operate without meaningful restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ecuador, this process is neither complete nor irreversible, but it is clearly visible. And like any political process, it does not occur overnight. It advances step by step, decision by decision, silence by silence. The most worrying aspect is not any single measure, but the accumulation of small signals that together transform the political climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the greatest success of any strategy of control is not open censorship, but convincing people to censor themselves. To allow criticism to diminish on its own. To make disagreement feel uncomfortable. To make silence seem normal. That is the true turning point. Because when a society stops questioning those in power, it does not necessarily mean that it agrees\u2014it may simply be afraid, exhausted, or resigned. None of those conditions is compatible with a healthy democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is at stake, therefore, is not a particular political position or a specific government. It is something more fundamental: the ability to express one’s views without fear. The capacity to disagree without paying a disproportionate price. The right to challenge those who hold power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ecuador does not need fewer voices. It needs more\u2014more debate, more criticism, and more democratic discomfort. History shows that rights which are not exercised are eventually lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is not the time to remain silent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Ecuador, the cost of dissent is rising as fear, pressure, and self-censorship threaten democratic debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":921,"featured_media":57320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16820,16855],"tags":[15635],"gps":[],"class_list":["post-57342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ecuador-en","category-autoritarismo-en","tag-debates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57342"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57346,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57342\/revisions\/57346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57342"},{"taxonomy":"gps","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinoamerica21.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gps?post=57342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}