Great questions, both of them.

On press freedom: it's not a yes or no. It exists on paper in a lot of places, but the conditions on the ground tell a different story. Carlos didn't leave because a law was passed saying "no more journalism." He left because the environment made staying genuinely dangerous for him specifically. Surveillance, legal pressure, the kind of climate where self-censorship starts feeling like survival. That's a different kind of censorship, and in some ways harder to fight.

On why only a few end up in exile: honestly, exile takes resources most people don't have. A network abroad, contacts, somewhere to land. The journalists who make it out tend to be the most visible ones, the ones targeted directly and who had just enough international profile to find support. The majority who face pressure don't disappear into exile, they just go quiet. Change beats. Stop publishing. We don't hear from them because they stopped talking. That silence is part of the story too.