Unprecedented attack, immediate solidarity: how a letter asking to silence Bolivia’s Nürnberg immediately backfired
Fernando Nürnberg Zambrana, president of the Circle of Sports Journalists in Bolivia
BUENOS AIRES, June 20, 2021 - Amid deadly dictatorships and with countless journalists killed, Latin America has actively fought for free speech in the past decades.
Every victory in free speech did not come without a big struggle. Cases of pressure, persecution and disappearance of independent and critical journalists, including sports journalists, are very well documented.
However, many of these principles achieved are now in danger, in what it is becoming a worrying fashion in the continent. Publicly asking to ‘silence’ journalists is, to say the least, a painful reminder of our history. And something that AIPS will not tolerate, as it was proven this week.
The letter - The case of Fernando Nürnberg Zambrana, president of the Circle of Sports Journalists in Bolivia, is the latest example of a blatant intervention of club and association officials, attempting to sweep all free-speech principles and Constitutional working rights for someone employed in a private media outlet.
His legendary show, Facetas Deportivas, has been on air for 35 years.
This week, 10 clubs and 9 regional associations of the Bolivian Football Association (FBF) have decided to send a letter to the director of Tigo Sports, Pablo Acha Lemaitre, asking to release Nürnberg from his duties as Copa América commentator because of his opinions.
“As clubs and member associations of the FBF, we have seen with surprise his designation to comment the matches of Copa América broadcast in the channels of the company Telecel/Tigo, taking into account that the comments of this person have been deliberately aimed and ill-intended, questioning the institutional life and the procedures of the FBF,” reads the letter.
The reply couldn’t be more strong: of course, Tigo Sports did not react to this pressure and Nürnberg continues being the Copa América commentator.
Uncomfortable truth - Some of the irregularities denounced by Nürnberg showed existing corruption in the FBF, including wrongdoings in the election.
Moreover, Nürnberg was also targeted simply for giving his opinion and interviewing certain characters that, according to the signing clubs, “turn him into an extremist journalist”. Yet some of the interviews of Nürnberg uncovered how the president of the FBF, Fernando Costas Sarmiento, surrounded by his own bodyguards, told officials of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: “Get the f… out of here, you shitty poofs”. This was confirmed by one of these officials, Edgar Menacho on live TV in April.
Neither the FBF nor Costas himself condemned the letter.
The biggest clubs in Bolivia, including Bolívar, Oriente Petrolero and Blooming, did not sign this letter, as they are not aligned with Costa.
AIPS sources point that several of the undersigned were not even aware of its contents, given that the signatures are all digital.
AIPS Solidarity - Immediately alerted, AIPS president Gianni Merlo quickly made contact with Nürnberg to express his solidarity and tell him that the association was strongly backing him in this unfair attack.
AIPS America immediately condemned the episode with a letter, announcing it would remain vigilant of the situation.
As Gianni Merlo added, the association is already in high alert and will keep monitoring the situation of Nürnberg, who represents one of the 161 national associations represented in AIPS.
In a moment like this, having a strong and united association is vital to prevent governments, associations and organisers to think that they control independent journalism.
The letter also acts as a sad reminder of what a world without journalists would look like. The terminology used is a self-condemnation, with terms such as “extremist” and “radical group” taken lightly. But there’s more.
The letter was dated “July 14, 2021”. The name of Nürnberg is wrongly spelled as “Numberg”.
This is the clear evidence of why journalism matters. Otherwise, the risk is to live in a dystopian reality with wrong dates, fake names and, more importantly, twisted facts in order to have happy officials.
Every victory in free speech did not come without a big struggle. Cases of pressure, persecution and disappearance of independent and critical journalists, including sports journalists, are very well documented.
However, many of these principles achieved are now in danger, in what it is becoming a worrying fashion in the continent. Publicly asking to ‘silence’ journalists is, to say the least, a painful reminder of our history. And something that AIPS will not tolerate, as it was proven this week.
The letter - The case of Fernando Nürnberg Zambrana, president of the Circle of Sports Journalists in Bolivia, is the latest example of a blatant intervention of club and association officials, attempting to sweep all free-speech principles and Constitutional working rights for someone employed in a private media outlet.
His legendary show, Facetas Deportivas, has been on air for 35 years.
This week, 10 clubs and 9 regional associations of the Bolivian Football Association (FBF) have decided to send a letter to the director of Tigo Sports, Pablo Acha Lemaitre, asking to release Nürnberg from his duties as Copa América commentator because of his opinions.
“As clubs and member associations of the FBF, we have seen with surprise his designation to comment the matches of Copa América broadcast in the channels of the company Telecel/Tigo, taking into account that the comments of this person have been deliberately aimed and ill-intended, questioning the institutional life and the procedures of the FBF,” reads the letter.
The reply couldn’t be more strong: of course, Tigo Sports did not react to this pressure and Nürnberg continues being the Copa América commentator.
Uncomfortable truth - Some of the irregularities denounced by Nürnberg showed existing corruption in the FBF, including wrongdoings in the election.
Moreover, Nürnberg was also targeted simply for giving his opinion and interviewing certain characters that, according to the signing clubs, “turn him into an extremist journalist”. Yet some of the interviews of Nürnberg uncovered how the president of the FBF, Fernando Costas Sarmiento, surrounded by his own bodyguards, told officials of Santa Cruz de la Sierra: “Get the f… out of here, you shitty poofs”. This was confirmed by one of these officials, Edgar Menacho on live TV in April.
Neither the FBF nor Costas himself condemned the letter.
The biggest clubs in Bolivia, including Bolívar, Oriente Petrolero and Blooming, did not sign this letter, as they are not aligned with Costa.
AIPS sources point that several of the undersigned were not even aware of its contents, given that the signatures are all digital.
AIPS Solidarity - Immediately alerted, AIPS president Gianni Merlo quickly made contact with Nürnberg to express his solidarity and tell him that the association was strongly backing him in this unfair attack.
AIPS America immediately condemned the episode with a letter, announcing it would remain vigilant of the situation.
As Gianni Merlo added, the association is already in high alert and will keep monitoring the situation of Nürnberg, who represents one of the 161 national associations represented in AIPS.
In a moment like this, having a strong and united association is vital to prevent governments, associations and organisers to think that they control independent journalism.
The letter also acts as a sad reminder of what a world without journalists would look like. The terminology used is a self-condemnation, with terms such as “extremist” and “radical group” taken lightly. But there’s more.
The letter was dated “July 14, 2021”. The name of Nürnberg is wrongly spelled as “Numberg”.
This is the clear evidence of why journalism matters. Otherwise, the risk is to live in a dystopian reality with wrong dates, fake names and, more importantly, twisted facts in order to have happy officials.
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