Miami (July 22, 2005).- The top officials of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) decided during a meeting held today in this city to send missions to investigate restrictions to press freedom in the United States on the issue of confidentiality of sources and to Mexico on violence against journalists and the media, and demanded freedom for 24 journalists in Cuba.

The IAPA’s Executive Committee and the organization’s president, Alejandro Miró Quesada, reiterated their concern over the situation that has arisen in the United States on the journalist’s right to protect sources and the ordering by judges to reveal sources of information, in a case that involves the White House. A grand jury investigated a leak to the press on the identity of an undercover CIA agent, which is considered a federal crime. Reporter Judith Miller, from The New York Times, refused to testify on the origin of her source and consequently was sent to prison on July 6. Another journalist, Matthew Cooper, from Time Magazine, avoided going to jail since his confidential source, a White House official, relieved him of his obligation to protect his identity. Nonetheless, Cooper could be subpoenaed once again by the prosecutor on the case and face the possibility of being arrested. The IAPA decided to send in the coming days a mission to the Detention Center in Arlington, Virginia, to show its solidarity with Miller and to visit Congress to discuss with Senators a federal bill on the professional secrecy of journalists.

Three countries captured special attention by IAPA during this quarter. Mexico, especially for the murder of journalists Guadalupe García Escamilla (April 16) and Raúl Gibb Guerrero (April 8), and the disappearance of Alfredo Jiménez Mota (April 2); Venezuela for the passage of reforms to the Penal Code; and Cuba for 24 imprisoned journalists and their worsening health.

On Mexico, the chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, stressed the fact that President Vicente Fox, after repeated requests made by IAPA, has sent four cases of journalists to federal jurisdiction. However, he regrets that there has been no progress in these investigations, especially on that of Jiménez Mota, journalist from El Imparcial, in Hermosillo, who disappeared three months ago. The IAPA declared that it would continue to review the case files of the murders of Héctor Félix Miranda (April 20, 1988) and Víctor Manuel Oropeza (July 3, 1991). The meeting on the Oropeza case was set for September after the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to the IAPA that this crime was not prescribed, as was feared.

On legislative matters, the IAPA reiterated its condemnation over the Venezuelan government’s strategy to diminish freedom of the press through the Penal Code, whose recent reform establishes the concept of insult. It also criticized the Law on Social Responsibility of Radio and Television, or Gag Law, that authorizes the government to control programming schedules and content of private media programs and a pending bill, Law on Citizen Participation, which gives the government the power to decide what can and cannot be published in the print media.

In Cuba, official censorship has increased, as well as discrimination of independent journalists. The hemispheric organization expressed its solidarity and publicly asked the Cuban government to release the 24 imprisoned journalists, 12 of which have serious health problems or have contracted illnesses in prison without access to adequate medical attention: Víctor Rolando Arroyo, Normando Hernández, Adolfo Fernández Sainz, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Pablo Pacheco Avila, Iván Hernández Carrillo, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Omar Ruiz Hernández, José Luis García Paneque, Ricardo González Alfonso, Alfredo Pulido López, while Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández is on a hunger strike. Since April, Claudia Márquez and Manuel Vázquez Portal have fled to the United States, while other journalists released on permits for humanitarian reasons remain waiting for approval to leave the country or are going through the long U.S. refugee program process.

On a positive note, the IAPA highlighted trends by Latin American governments to pass laws on access to public information, including Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. There are also bills on this matter in Argentina, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Paraguay, among other countries. The IAPA also expressed its concern over the recent approval by the Peruvian Congress of legislation on intelligence that contradicts aspects of the law on access to information in effect since 2002.

The Executive Committee pointed out the elimination of insult laws in Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. IAPA President Miró Quesada mentioned the importance of the elimination of gag laws by Panamanian President Martín Torrijos, who during an official act on July 6 in that country also signed the Declaration of Chapultepec.

Meanwhile, in Chile, the organization is confident that President Ricardo Lagos will veto a clause in the Constitution on public life that protects public officials from criticism, in particular. Although the IAPA recognizes the elimination of the crime of insult established in the Law on National Security, it also hopes for its elimination in the Penal Code and Military Code of Justice.

The IAPA showed its concern over economic sanctions against newspapers in Argentina and Venezuela, among other countries, regarding the distribution of official advertising, and for tax increases in Nicaragua based on political discrimination.

Beyond the legal obstacles, legislative barriers, and economic sanctions, special attention was given during the meeting to the instability and political crises in Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti and Nicaragua that have resulted in attacks and harassment against the media and journalists. It also called the attention to attacks in Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. Meanwhile, in Colombia, despite a decrease in violence, a journalist fled the country, at least six were threatened, two were beaten, and there was a reported attack against a radio transmission tower.

IAPA officers demanded that governments make greater efforts to investigate the cases of murdered journalists and put an end to impunity. They reminded the fallen journalists during this quarter: Julio Augusto García (April 19), from Ecuador; Guadalupe García Escamilla and Raúl Gibb Guerrero, from Mexico; Robenson Laraque (April 4), from Haiti; Ricardo Gonzalves Rocha (March 31) and José Cândido de Amorim Filho (July 1), from Brazil. They also mentioned the murders of Gustavo Acevedo (July 25) and Gilberto Prieto (June 15), from Venezuela; and Jacques Roche (July 14), from Haiti, whose motives are still being investigated.

In promoting press freedom and freedom of expression in the hemisphere, the organization’s officers agreed to continue training programs for journalists at risk, putting emphasis on Brazil Colombia, Haiti and Mexico, as well as continue organizing legislative and judicial forums in Argentina and other countries.

The IAPA also agreed to send a mission to Mexico to examine in situ the problem of violence, organize in Hermosillo a meeting of editors from the north of that country, and will remain alert on the situation of some newspapers from the interior in apparent conflict with local governments such as the case of the morning paper Noticias in Oaxaca.