English CONTEXT S ince the resumption of armed conflict in 2012, after 20 years of peace (19922012), the freedom of expression environment has become a source of concern, with obvious signs of attempts to silence critical minds through threats and armed attacks (such as the attempts on the lives of academics Gille Cistac in 2015, and José Macuane in 2016) and several political assassinations of both members of the opposition and elements of the ruling party. There is no data on the number of opposition and ruling party politicians assassinated during the armed conflict, but organisations monitoring the human rights situation in Mozambique estimate that it is in the dozens of citizens.1 Although the environment continues to be characterised by fear among politicians and critics, especially among opponents of the government of the day, in 2017 there was a slight improvement compared to the previous year. Among ‘critical minds’, there were a few sporadic cases, one of which was the entry of an armed individual into the room where a debate was taking place in the Youth Parliament, a national non-governmental organisation, where he began to threaten organisers, speakers and par1 Various, https://www.dn.pt/mundo/interior/ha-gravesabusos-de-direitos-humanos-contra-civis-5556944. html; https://www.jn.pt/mundo/interior/vala-comumcom-120-cadaveres-em-mocambique-5148681. html; https://www.dn.pt/mundo/interior/ha-gravesabusos-de-direitos-humanos-contra-civis-5556944. html https://photos.state.gov/libraries/mozambique/328666/portuguese_pdf/2014_human_ rights_mozambique_pt.pdf. 62 So This is Democracy? 2017 ticipants before being removed from the room. The second case occurred during another civil society debate challenging the parliamentary legalisation of the ‘hidden debts’2. At the time, the organisers mobilised a petition to kick off a process to request an analysis of the constitutionality of the act. Several members of the group of organisers began receiving threats from unknown individuals. If the environment was slightly better for critics and opposition politicians, the same could not be said of the press. Contrary to the previous year, more than 20 cases of press freedom violations were reported in 2017. A difficult year is expected for the media in 2018, given that it is the beginning of an electoral cycle. The number of opposition and ruling party politicians assassinated during the armed conflict, is in the dozens of citizens. 2 The issue of hidden debts was triggered in the first half of 2016, when, from the international press, it became known that, during the mandate of former President Armando Guebuza, the country contracted a loan in absentia without the knowledge of the National Assembly. Approximately US $ 1,500 million for investments in the maritime safety sector and in companies engaged in the exploitation of mineral resources.