El año pasado, al final de nuestra reunión en Chicago, traté de hablar en tres idiomas: inglés, español y portugués. Hasta ese momento había estado trabajando durante años sólo con el español, nunca había estudiado portugués y había dedicado toda mi vida a perfeccionar mi inglés. En mi año como presidente he descuidado el inglés, he estado practicando el español como nunca antes, y comencé a estudiar portugués. Lamentablemente, sin embargo, dudo que alguien --salvo los angloparlantes-- note el cambio.

No ano passado, ao final da nossa reunião em Chicago, tentei de falar em três idiomas: inglês, espanhol e português. Até então, tinha trabalhado durante anos só com o espanhol, nunca tinha estudado português e havia dedicado toda a minha vida a aperfeiçoar o meu inglês. Durante o ano em que fui presidente descuidei do inglês, pratiquei o espanhol como nunca e comecei a estudar português. Mas infelizmente, duvido que alguém – exceto os anglofalantes – note a diferença.

Colleagues and friends.
Last year at the end of our meeting in Chicago I attempted to speak in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese. At the time I had worked for years on my Spanish, never studied Portuguese, and spent my life trying to master English. In my year as president, I have neglected my English, had more practice in Spanish than ever before, and started to study Portuguese. Painfully, though, I doubt that any but the English speakers will notice the change.

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It has been a fascinating, challenging year. And for me it has gone by all too quickly.
A year ago, I saw the situation in Cuba and Venezuela as the most dangerous to the institution of freedom of the press. Dozens of independent journalists were suffering in Fidel Castro’s political prison cells. And in Venezuela the collection of petitions for the recall of President Chavez was just beginning, carrying the palpable risk of officially inspired violence against journalists.

Sadly, 29 independent journalists in Cuba remain in prison, including our associate and friend, Raul Rivero, who is serving a grotesque 26-year sentence. Numerous attempts through several different avenues failed to get the Cuban government even to answer my request to visit in order to talk about this situation. Still, I continue to believe that it is worth the effort to persist in attempting to engage Castro and his government, just as we have engaged other dictators in this hemisphere through the years.
Cuba is the one place in the hemisphere where there exists no semblance of freedom of the press. It is an outrage in the year 2004 that this benighted situation continues to exist. My heart goes out to the prisoners and their families, including Miguel Sánchez, stepson of Raúl Rivero. I want them to know that this organization will not rest until they are free and able to practice their profession secure from government interference.

In Venezuela the violence everyone feared during the recall process did not occur at anything like the level it might have. I led two missions to Caracas. One was just before the collection of signatures. Joining me were Edward Seaton, Sergio Muñoz, Bartolomé Mitre, Jorge Fascetto, Rafael Molina, John Yearwood, Humberto Castelló, Julio Muñoz and Ricardo Trotti. The other was just before the recall vote itself. Alejo Miró Quesada and Ricardo Trotti joined me on that mission. During our first mission Chavez’s chancellor made a statement attacking us as a bunch of Citizen Kanes, nothing but rich ignoramuses. And in the way of all authoritarians, who think they can order words to mean the opposite of what they say, he called IAPA a stain on the freedom of expression in the hemisphere.

So the fact that there was no severe violence, though a tremendous relief, is not the end of the story. President Chavez remains in his position. He has not become a believer in democracy, though he was its beneficiary. He has not become able to accept the expression of criticism of his policies. He continues to pressure the news media in Venezuela and move in the direction of further repression.

Meanwhile, the situation in the upper Andean region remains politically precarious, with all the danger to liberty that guerrilla movements, narcotrafficking, and weak democratic leaders bring.

Violence against journalists with impunity continues there and elsewhere. Deeply burdening my soul, 17 journalists have been murdered since I became president of this organization. The case closest to the heart of this organization came in Tijuana. If you recall, at our meeting in Los Cabos I signed an agreement with the Mexican government that committed it to working with us to solve the murder of Journalists Hector Felix Miranda in 1988 and Victor Manuel Oropeza in 1991. Not long afterwards Francisco J. Ortiz Franco, who was collaborating with IAPA in reviewing government records in these matters, was himself murdered. Impunity upon impunity.
It is a shame upon every government of the hemisphere that has let the murder of journalists for so long go unpunished. Whatever other democratic institutions a nation may have built, they are hopelessly inadequate if independent journalists cannot go about their work freely and secure in the knowledge that any threat or act of violence against them will be met with quick and effective response by the criminal justice system.

Our organization has stepped into this intolerable situation in many ways, through missions and otherwise. Most recently it has established a seminar on Journalism in Hostile Areas and Journalism at Risk to train journalists how to deal with the dangers they face. In early October, for example, one such seminar was held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where the situation after the hurricanes has been—as you all know—very grave. So far we have trained 337 journalists in Haiti, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, and Paraguay.

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Meanwhile, the United States continues to make it difficult for non-U.S. reporters to enter the country, a situation the IAPA criticized in a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Though the terrorist threat in the U.S. has not had a significant adverse effect on U.S. media’s ability to cover the news, the U.S. government has behaved terribly toward non-Americans—journalists and non-journalists alike. And recently a federal prosecutor investigating the leak of the name of a clandestine CIA agent (seemingly in retribution for her husband’s unflattering remarks about the administration) has threatened a number of reporters with jail on grounds of contempt of court for refusing to divulge their sources.

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At the same time that the hemisphere faces dire challenges to freedom of the press, significant advances have been made, particularly in the area of freedom of information laws. As you know Mexico led the way in attempting to open up government files to the press. At the Chapultepec Summit of National Congresses of the Americas in May of this year, 41 legislators from 21 countries listened to recommendations about how to liberalize access to information. Since then freedom of information laws have been enacted in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. The Senate of Argentina and the Congress of Paraguay have contacted IAPA for help in drafting new public access legislation.

Finally, we are making plans to extend the Chapultepec process in an important new direction. The purpose would be to consider the role of the press in an open, democratic society, the issues of journalistic ethics most important in our hemisphere and draft an IAPA statement of principle to supplement or replace one that was written in the early years and adopted by IAPA in the middle years of the 20th Century. I will be sending all members of IAPA a report on this idea, and we will discuss the matter fully at our midyear meeting in Panama.

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Ha sido un gran honor servirles en este período. Todos ustedes se han convertido en magníficos amigos, unidos por una noble causa. Aún ha sido mayor el honor de servir a la causa de la libertad de expresión, en la que creo hasta lo más profundo de mi ser. Esta es la fuente del conocimiento en continuo desarrollo, el protector y resultado de la dignidad humana, el propulsor de las economías y de los hombres y mujeres dentro de ellas, y el mejor fundamento que los seres humanos han creado para mantener apropiadamente controlados el poder de los gobiernos.

Foi uma honra servi-los nesse período. Todos vocês se transformaram em amigos magníficos, unidos por uma causa nobre. Foi uma honra para mim servir à causa da liberdade de expressão, na qual acredito até o mais profundo do meu ser. Essa é a fonte do conhecimento no desenvolvimento contínuo, protetor e produto da dignidade humana, propulsor das economias e dos homens e mulheres dentro delas e a melhor base que os seres humanos criaram para manter o poder dos governos adequadamente controlado.

It has been a great honor to serve you this past year. You have all become such good friends, bonded by a noble cause. It has been a greater honor still to serve the cause of freedom of expression, which I believe down to the deepest part of my being. It is the source of continuously developing knowledge, the protector and product of human dignity, the developer of economies and the men and women within them, and the best basis human beings have ever invented for keeping government power in proper check.

I thank you deeply for the privilege of serving.