The International Press Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Mariela Hoyer Guerrero as Press Freedom Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean.

A native of Maracaibo, Venezuela, Hoyer spent most of her journalism career in Caracas with El Nacional, one of the country’s major independent daily newspapers. She has also contributed to national and international magazines, with some of her working assignments in countries such as Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Spain.

After several years covering politics and tourism, Mariela later focused her work in the paper’s Ciudadanos (‘Citizens’) section. She reported in particular on education and health issues relating to Caracas’s urban poor, working to bring stories of the city’s most disadvantaged to the fore.

Drawing from her experience with local NGOs and El Nacional, Mariela published her first book, Barrio Adentro: Historias de una misión (‘Inside the Slum: Stories of a Mission’) in 2009.  The work critically examined the impact of Misión Barrio Adentro (‘Mission Inside the Slum’), a controversial program begun by President Hugo Chávez that sought to provide affordable medical care to Caracas’s poorest neighborhoods with the help of thousands of Cuban doctors.  Through her book and work at El Nacional, Mariela earned a reputation for fair and balanced reporting within Venezuela’s highly polarised media climate.

After graduating from Universidad Católica Andres Bello in 2005 with a degree in Social Communication (specialised in Journalism), Hoyer was awarded a grant from the Balboa Program for Young Iberoamerican Journalists in 2009, which selects 20 promising young journalists from across Latin America to study and work in Spain. Mariela spent six months in Madrid working for the financial paper Cinco Días, contributing to its “Especiales“ supplement.  At the same time, she joined a network of communication professionals who work all over Latin America for leading print and broadcast media.

Hoyer brings to IPI strong expertise on the media and press freedom in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Her experience working as a journalist in Venezuela, home to an increasingly restrictive media environment, and her wealth of contacts among Latin America’s media workers, will allow her to expertly guide and expand IPI’s efforts in the region. Her familiarity with the region will prove particularly valuable as IPI launches a major campaign to abolish criminal defamation laws in the Caribbean and prepares for its 2012 World Congress, to be held next June in Trinidad & Tobago.

Hoyer’s appointment comes at a critical time for press freedom in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to IPI’s statistics, Latin America has become the world’s deadliest region for journalists, with 35 media workers killed this year. Reports of violent and intimidating behavior towards journalists have surged in Mexico, Honduras, Peru and Ecuador while a number of governments have moved aggresively to silence independent media voices.

Mariela is also responsible for editing “A Reporter’s Guide on How to Cover Millennium Development Goals” – a soon-to-be-published IPI handbook.

Please click here to read this press release in Spanish