Panama, 17 and 18 November 2000.
Reporters sans frontières
In Cuba and Colombia, violations of press freedom are commonplace.
The outlook is more hopeful in Peru
In six other countries represented at the summit the media are facing
serious threats
Frequent violations of press freedom have occurred during the past year in
three of the 21 states taking part in the tenth Ibero-American summit meeting -
Colombia, Cuba and Peru - although in Peru matters do seem to have taken a turn
for the better. In six other countries - Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama,
Paraguay and Spain - press freedom has to cope with several serious threats such
as terrorist violence, legislation that spells death to freedom and political
repression. Statistics recorded by Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters
Without Borders - RSF) since the Havana summit in November 1999 speak volumes:
five journalists killed, eight jailed, 42 arrested, 27 forced into exile, 125
assaulted or threatened, plus 136 cases of pressure or obstacles to the free
flow of news. Although infringements of press freedom were not necessarily as
serious in all ten countries, what their governments have in common is a failure
to observe the "commitment to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms"
declared every year as part of the summit's closing statement.
Colombia: News taken hostage
Nowadays the chief threat to the media no longer comes from drug traffickers
but from armed groups such as the paramilitaries of the United Self-Defence
Groups of Colombia (AUC) or guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). For them, journalists
are not impartial observers of the conflict but "military targets",
always suspected of supporting the "other side". Such groups are
believed to be behind the murders of Luis Alberto Rincón, Alberto Sánchez
Tovar and Pablo Emilio Medina, who were killed between 28 November and 3
December 1999.
The groups do not restrict themselves to murder to force journalists to
practise self-censorship. On 25 May 2000 Jineth Bedoya of the daily El
Espectador was kidnapped by the AUC after accusing several of its members of
murdering inmates at a Bogota prison. She was gagged and tied up, then drugged
and beaten, and finally left unconscious ten hours later about 60 miles from the
Colombian capital. Her kidnappers said they wanted to "teach a lesson"
to journalists who criticised their operations. Thirty-eight journalists have
been kidnapped since 1998, usually by guerrillas hoping to force their employers
to put out press releases or condemn atrocities committed by the army and
paramilitaries.
Threats and attacks are also commonplace. According to a survey conducted by
the University of La Sabana, published in February 2000, 42.5% of the
journalists questioned had been threatened at some time during their careers.
And the situation is getting worse: eight have gone into exile over the past
year. They include Francisco Santos, the well-known editor of the daily El
Tiempo, who left Bogota on 11 March after learning of a FARC plot to murder him.
The group was apparently furious about his commitment to condemning kidnappings
in Colombia (some 3,000 are estimated to have taken place in 1999 alone).
Cuba: The only country where journalists are in jail
Three journalists are still in prison in Cuba: Bernardo Arévalo Padrón,
founder of the independent news agency Línea Sur Press, sentenced to six
years in November 1997 for "insulting" President Fidel Castro; Manuel
Antonio González Castellanos, a member of the independent news agency
Cuba Press, arrested on 1 October 1998 and sentenced to two years and seven
months for insulting the president; and Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández,
a member of the Cooperativa Ávileña de Periodistas Independientes,
sentenced to four years in January 1999 because his work as a journalist was
regarded as "a danger to society".
In Cuba, where the constitution stipulates that press freedom must "comply
with the goals of socialist society", only official media are authorised.
This control also extends to the Internet: access is restricted to a few
hand-picked individuals. In these circumstances the 100 or so independent
journalists employed by about 20 news agencies that are not recognised by the
government are kept under pressure to
persuade them to give up their work. Since the last summit, 26 have been
threatened with prosecution, six have been attacked or threatened and 37 arrests
have been recorded, not to mention the pressure put on members of their
families, who may be thrown out of their homes, lose their jobs or be subjected
to harassment by telephone. Since July Luis Alberto Rivera Leyva, who heads the
news agency APLO, has been threatened, arrested or put under house arrest eight
times. Nineteen journalists, at their end of their tethers, have chosen to go
into exile since 1 January 2000, bringing to 40 the number that have left Cuba
since 1995. Although law no. 88, adopted in March 1999, has not been brought
into force, it still poses a threat to anyone who "collaborates with
foreign media" or "supplies information" deemed liable to be
useful to United States policy. The law provides for jail sentences of up to 20
years for offenders.
Despite the repression, the ranks of independent journalists have swollen
from only a handful in the early 1990s to more than 100 today. The process has
been helped by the growing number of web sites that enable their reports to be
read all over the world and by the recognition they were given by the
Ibero-American summit in Havana.
Peru: Has a turning point been reached?
In Peru the distancing of Vladimiro Montesinos, former head of the national
intelligence department (Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional - SIN), from the
government has opened the door to change. Negotiations between the government
and the opposition under the auspices of the Organisation of American States
(OAS) have already secured significant progress: reforms to the legal system,
the dismantling of the intelligence department, and the restoring of Peruvian
nationality to the majority shareholder of the television channel Frecuencia
Latina. Although RSF regards these decisions as steps in the right direction,
the organisation will remain on the alert to observe whether they are actually
implemented.
On 3 November the Peruvian parliament approved the abolition of the
Executive Legal Committees which gave the government the power to intervene in
the running of the judiciary through a system of "temporary judges".
In recent years the Peruvian courts had become a means of controlling news and
punishing "troublesome" media. Yet the mandate of the temporary
judges, who make up 70% of the total number of judges, has not been called into
question despite doubts concerning the independence of some of them. In May
1999, two judges who had just ruled in favour of seven journalists known for
their investigations of the SIN were replaced by two other judges who
immediately cancelled their predecessors' decision.
At the end of September parliament voted to dismantle the SIN. The
department, which had been run for ten years by Vladimiro Montesinos, was
believed to be behind various incidents concerning media and journalists that
had criticised the government, the army or the SIN: phone-tapping, death
threats, assaults, threatened legal proceedings, defamation campaigns in the
tabloid press, and so on. One of the SIN's victims was Cecilia Valenzuela,
editor of the online news agency
imediaperu.com, who was attacked and followed for several days in early
September after she published a series of articles accusing the department of
involvement in a drugs and weapons trafficking scandal. The military
intelligence department (Servicio de Inteligencia del Ejército - SIE),
also believed to be responsible for some of the harassment of journalists, is
still in operation. RSF condemned the absence of an official inquiry into the
SIN's and the SIE's responsibility in attacks on the media.
On 8 November 2000 the decree depriving Baruch Ivcher, a businessman of
Israeli origin and majority shareholder in the TV channel Frecuencia Latina, of
his Peruvian nationality was cancelled. It had been signed in July 1997, shortly
after the channel broadcast a report accusing the SIN of involvement in a
phone-tapping scandal. The decision meant that Ivcher lost control of Frecuencia
Latina because of a law that bans foreigners from owning media. The most recent
decision did not, however, give him back his control of the channel. The
Inter-American Human Rights Commission has called for the channel to be restored
to him, as it did in the case of Genaro Delgado Parker, director of the channel
Red Global, who was deprived of control after he claimed that blackmail over
advertising was enabling the government to dictate the content of television
newscasts.
Chile, Panama and Paraguay: State versus media
In Panama, which is hosting the latest summit, Chile and Paraguay, it is the
state itself which poses the greatest threat to the media. In Panama and Chile
laws left over from the days of dictatorship still provide for prison sentences
as punishment for press offences. In Paraguay, the media bear the brunt of
political instability.
Carlos Singares, managing editor of the Panamanian daily El Siglo, was
jailed for a week at the end of July on the orders of the attorney-general
because the official felt that a report published by the daily was "insulting
to his dignity, honour and rank". In Panama article 33 of the constitution,
articles 173A, 175, 307 and 308 of the penal code and articles 202 and 386 of
the criminal code still provide for prison sentences in cases involving the
press. About 40 journalists are currently facing prosecution. The imprisonment
of Carlos Singares dashed hopes raised at the end of November 1999, when laws 11
and 68 were repealed. Known as the "gagging laws", they allowed
newspapers to be closed down and heavily fined if found guilty of offences.
Chile's state security law, under which 17 journalists have been arrested
and charged since 1990, is still in force. One of the journalists is still
living in exile. The law, passed in 1958, provides for sentences of up to five
years in jail for "insulting or libelling" high-ranking state
officials. On 15 February 2000 José Ale was sentenced to be "placed
under legal supervision" for 18 months for "insulting" Servando
Jordan, the former chairman of the supreme court, before being pardoned by
Ricardo Lagos on 6 July.
In Paraguay political strife puts press freedom in continual danger. After
an attempted coup d'état on 18 May 2000, a two-week state of emergency
was declared during which three journalists were imprisoned, another was
threatened with arrest and two radio stations were closed down. Three months
later, during the election of the vice-president, the staff of the Ñanduti
and Radio Primero de Marzo received threats and were even assaulted over their
coverage of the poll.
Spain, Guatemala and Mexico: The press are victims of violence
In Spain the state of press freedom is suffering because of the Basque
separatist issue. The murder on 7 May 2000 of José Luis López de
Lacalle, columnist of the Basque regional edition of the daily El Mundo and a
member of the editorial board, came after a period of threats, warnings and the
publication of blacklists, and was one of a series of attacks on the media and
journalists. The attacks were usually blamed on the armed independence movement
Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) which, in a statement published in February 1999,
described journalists who opposed "the building of Euskal Herria" (the
Basque homeland) as "enemy dogs". And the violence is continuing: four
newspaper offices have been the target of attacks since May and two journalists
have narrowly escaped attempts on their lives. About 100 journalists now have
official or private protection. To condemn the situation, RSF has given its
annual award this year to Carmen Gurruchaga of the daily El Mundo, who has been
a victim of terrorist violence on several occasions.
Acts of intimidation and threats against human rights campaigners and
journalists have been on the increase in Guatemala since the Guatemalan
Republican Front returned to power at the end of 1999. At least six journalists
were threatened as they were investigating certain military officials. Meanwhile
on 27 April Roberto Martínez, a photographer with the daily Prensa Libre,
was killed while covering riots in Guatemala City. He was shot and fatally
wounded by a security guard at a shopping centre that was being looted by
demonstrators.
In Mexico violence and pressure on the media are mainly political. Five
journalists have been threatened or attacked. They include Jaime Avilés
of the daily La Jornada who received a threatening email message on 21 October
after he accused the governor of Tabasco state, Roberto Madrazo, of involvement
in a corruption scandal. In addition, two reporters were killed in states
bordering on the United States, where trafficking of all kinds is rife. It is
not known if the murders were connected with their work as journalists.
Recommendations
RSF calls on the governments of Colombia and Spain to continue their efforts
to identify those who have murdered journalists, and to guarantee the safety of
all those working in the profession.
RSF calls on the Cuban authorities to release the three journalists
currently in jail immediately, to allow press freedom to exist without
restrictions, to recognise independent news agencies and to put an end to
harassment and attempts to intimidate independent journalists. We also call on
the Cuban authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.
RSF calls on the Peruvian government to order an inquiry into the
responsibility of the SIN and the SIE in the pressure brought to bear on several
media and journalists in recent years. We also ask for Baruch Ivcher and Genaro
Delgado Parker to be given back control of their television channels, in
accordance with the resolutions of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.
RSF calls on the Panamanian and Chilean authorities to abolish prison
sentences as punishment for offences involving the media, and to abolish the
crimes of "insulting" and "attacking the honour" of state
officials. We remind the governments of those countries that in a document dated
18 January 2000, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression stated that "imprisonment
as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious
violation of human rights". Moreover, in its Declaration on the Principles
of Freedom of Expression adopted in October 2000, the Inter-American Human
Rights Commission says it regards the laws on "insulting" civil
servants as "damaging to press freedom".
RSF calls on the governments of Guatemala, Mexico and Paraguay to
investigate cases of attacks and threats against journalists and to take steps
to ensure their safety. We also ask the authorities in Paraguay to respect press
freedom in all circumstances.
Régis Bourgeat
Despacho Américas / Americas desk
Reporters sans frontières
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
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