VOZ stars in freedom of expression panel at Foro Madrid in Asunción
"VOZ was born out of the need to break and overcome the relentless censorship of recent years," said Karina Yapor, executive producer of VOZ.

Freedom of expression panel
Asunción, Paraguay, hosted the IV Regional Meeting of the Madrid Forum, bringing together journalists, communicators, and advocates from across the Hispanic world who are committed to defending freedom of expression.
The VOZ team attended to cover and participate in the event, featuring prominently in one of the day's most important panels on freedom of expression.
Karina Yapor, executive producer of VOZ, opened the panel with a statement that captured the outlet's mission: "VOZ was born from the need to break through and overcome the relentless censorship of recent years."
In his speech, he identified the sources of this censorship: "Where does left-wing censorship come from, and why is it so powerful? It stems from two major players: leftist activists and billionaire businessmen pushing a globalist agenda worldwide, and from governments and private institutions that are plagued and infiltrated by these activists."
Yapor went further, emphasizing the urgent need to identify the power centers that threaten press freedom:
"To solve the attack on freedom of expression we must detect common threats: for example, George Soros has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to control the media to push the globalist agenda," she said.
The journalist also drew a direct chronological line between these dynamics and specific episodes of media manipulation, such as during the 2016 U.S. elections: "The media, after receiving information from Hillary Clinton's campaign, began spreading misinformation about alleged collusion between Trump and Russia that turned out to be false."
"Journalism is there to dissent, to disturb, not to replicate anyone's official discourse."
"Karina Mariani, editor of VOZ, delved into the role of the big media as actors in this machinery.
"In Argentina, Kirchnerism was in charge of imposing its narratives through the guidelines," said Mariani, warning that the phenomenon is not limited to leftist media: "The totalitarian and anti-freedom narrative is also imposed from supposedly neutral media. Hegemonic. Journalism is there to dissent, to disturb, not to replicate anyone's official discourse."
Mariani also criticized the dependence of the big newsrooms on international agencies: "The media are nourished by the agencies, and the agencies are possibly the most corrupt, the most lavished with money and the ones that have least respected freedom, especially freedom of expression."
An example of this, he added, is the homogeneity of headlines around the world: "Global official discourse, identical newspaper covers."
From a more personal point of view, Idania Chirinos, content director of NTN24, shared her experience as a journalist exiled from Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela.
"It is my country, it is my struggle. At a high cost: ten years without being able to enter my homeland, without seeing relatives. With my family having to remove my photos because of threats from the regime," said Chirinos, who also recalled how the Chavista regime censored and took NTN24 off the air for its coverage of the socio-political and economic crisis in Venezuela.
Luis Balcarce, deputy director of OKDIARIO, denounced, in turn, the Spanish government's attacks against the independent media: "Pedro Sánchez has said that he is going to go after the media, even stating that they will change their content and algorithm," he warned. Balcarce also pointed out how political power in Spain is moving towards absolute control of the media narrative.
In addition, he criticized the role of the hegemonic media, such as El País, which not only attack the free press, but have been responsible for shameful news scandals.
Paraguayan journalist Enrique Vargas Peña also contributed his local perspective, directly questioning the European Union and stressing that "the Constitution of Paraguay is saving us from the totalitarian onslaught that is underway."
"Peña did not hesitate to point to the European Union as one of the greatest threats to national sovereignty, "especially through governance agreements that undermine Paraguayan freedoms."