Presentation of Rafael Molina Morillo
Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information
of the Inter American Press Association
Sunday, October 14, 2001
57th General Assembly, Washington, D.C.

The negative view of press freedom in the hemisphere that we presented in March in Fortaleza has not improved in the past six months.
While there has been some progress, we have to report both the continuation of undesirable situations already reported, and the appearance of new ominous developments threatening the sacred right to inform and to be informed in a country that traditionally has been a model because of the respect for human rights it has always professed.
We are referring to the United States, where a court has kept freelance writer Vanessa Leggett in a federal detention center since July 20 on a charge of contempt because, in exercise of her constitutional rights, she refused to disclose her sources for a book she is writing about a notorious murder. Another highly worrisome case is that of John Solomon of The Associated Press. The Justice Department has ordered a telephone company to turn over records of his personal telephone calls.
We are also concerned about the shift that can be seen in the United States because of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the bellicose response they have provoked. According to many analysts, the security measures adopted by U.S. authorities could interfere with universally recognized human rights, including access to official sources of public information, because military controls could be established. Fears have also been expressed that there could be a tendency toward self-censorship, based on the confusion of patriotism with journalistic duty. BBC correspondent Javier Lizarzaburu may have been right when he said, "press coverage may be a victim of the first war of the 20th century."
In the rest of the hemisphere, the IAPA's struggle for a totally free, responsible and independent press is still arduous.
Killing journalists is doubtless the bloodiest way to fight ideas. Month after month, week after week, we see our colleagues struck down in different places, victims of intolerance. And, there is the aggravating circumstance that in most cases these crimes are not punished because authorities are not interested in solving them. Twelve journalists have been murdered in the past six months. Their deaths in the line of duty bring to 243 the number of victims in the past 13 years.
Enemies of freedom are dug in everywhere and they act, not only with violence but also in other ways-sometimes subtle, sometimes grotesque. They do it through official actions of governments and politicians, through terrorist acts, through illegitimate economic interests or restrictive laws or dubious interpretations by some judges, either because of greed or lack of independence of the judiciary in their countries. If we add to all this the tendency toward self-censorship that we see in many Latin American media outlets, the difficulty of access to sources of public information and the use of government advertising to punish or reward newspapers that oppose or support the government of the moment, we will have to admit that today we face one of the greatest challenges in the history of the Inter American Press Association.
The biggest problems with the judiciary are in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Jamaica. In Canada, in addition, judges have the right to block coverage of trials, which is a violation of the public's right to be informed. In Venezuela, the Supreme Court recently upheld a decision about the right of reply that has a direct negative impact on freedom of expression. In Ecuador, the press feels threatened by a deluge of lawsuits and unfavorable verdicts, many of them supported by legislation that, far from helping, impedes the free practice of journalism.
But a light can be seen at the end of the tunnel. On September 7, the Inter-American Human Rights Court ordered the suspension until specific procedures are complied with of the negative effects of a court verdict in Costa Rica against the newspaper La Nación and its reporter Mauricio Herrera that constitutes a flagrant denial of press freedom. This is a far-reaching decision both because it is the first provisional measure at this level concerning freedom of expression and because it can be an encouragement and support for journalists of Costa Rica to give up the self-censorship we noted in some newsrooms during our recent visit to the country.
The "damages industry" in Brazil is not the only problem affecting journalism in that country. To the swelling current of trials involving the media can be added attacks, including murders and censorship attempts, including the seizure of copies of a newspaper in São Lourenço do Sul that had reported government corruption. We will have a detailed report of the situation in Brazil later, but we should mention, as the most ominous development of the past six months, the murder of Mário Almeida Filho, shot eight times the day before he was to testify about journalistic reports of fraud by government employees.
Organized crime, and particularly drug trafficking, has become a new threat to press freedom in Mexico. There does not seem to be much interest in punishing crimes against journalists, such as the case of American Philip True, whose confessed killed were freed because of "disappearance of evidence" while they awaiting sentencing. There has been no news of the results of promises made by President Vicente Fox to the IAPA delegation that visited him in February. At that time he said he would submit to Congress a bill to effectively guarantee free access of citizens, including journalists, to all sources of official news.
The requirement of belonging to a journalists' colegio, one of the most popular ways to restrict the freedom to inform and be informed, which helps all citizens, has been put into law in Nicaragua and Honduras. In Nicaragua, fortunately, the law has not taken effect for procedural reasons and because two constitutional appeals are pending. But another sword of Damocles hangs over the independent press of Nicaragua. That is the capricious and political placement of government advertising. An encouraging omen was the signing of the Declaration of Chapultepec by the main presidential candidates, as an indication that they accept its principles. The document was signed at the residence of former president Violeta Chamorro in the presence of a visiting IAPA delegation.
In Ecuador the television program "Le Informo, Señor Presidente" has been closed for a couple of moths because it reported compromising events involving the government.
In Paraguay, there are three types of limits on press freedom. On one hand, there is the unprecedented number of lawsuits and verdicts against the press that distract its attention and resources, obstructing its true mission in society, which is to inform and guide public opinion. Second, there is what we could call the "legislative offensive": the "law of administrative transparency" which has harsh provisions to block investigative reporting and whose repeal has been requested by the IAPA; and another law-No. 1682-which regulates information considered private and violates basic constitutional precepts to the detriment of press freedom. And last, but no means least, the frequent threats and physical attacks on journalists.
There has been no progress in the case of the newspaper El Liberal of Santiago del Estero, Argentina. The newspaper is still being harassed by the provincial governor, and appeals to the federal government have had no effect, including mediation efforts made personally by IAPA delegations that traveled there specifically for that purpose. There is a similar confrontation between the newspaper Río Negro of the province of the same name, and its governor, Jorge Sobisch. The IAPA has often reported the defenselessness condition of independent journalists in the provinces, especially in large countries where central governments do not seem to be capable of controlling excesses by governors.
Independent journalists in Cuba are still under attack, as they have been for four decades. New attacks and interrogations of journalists by security agents, in an effort to stop them from working, have been reported. And the correspondent of the independent Havana Press agency has been prevented from doing his work. Recently, five journalists with U.S. visas were prevented from leaving the country without explanation. Law 88 (the "gag law") which provides for prison sentences up to 20 years for those who report without official permission, is still in effect.
Bolivia is a special case. The economic crisis and social conflict among small farmers that have shaken the country since April have caused armed conflict in which many people, including journalists, have been wounded and killed. While it is difficult to establish in some cases whether a journalist's death occurred because of his work, it is unfortunate that the government has not put all its efforts into determining who is responsible.
In Guatemala, President Alfonso Portillo promised the IAPA that he would end the dispute between the print and television media. The president promised to open for public bidding two television frequencies available for open access so those who complain of a semi-monopoly that sympathizes with the government can have their own electronic media. President Portillo's promise is supposed to be fulfilled by December at the latest.
There have been no new developments in the difficult practice of journalism in Haiti. Civilian officials and members of the military frequently harass journalists, and murders of journalists reported earlier are still unsolved. Colombia is another case of a government that respects human rights but is incapable of applying timely and fair punishments to the enemies of freedom who kill and attack journalists with alarming frequency. In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, there is no lack of verbal attacks on journalists by public officials including the president and there has been no lack of physical attacks by unknown persons. But it is worth mentioning that this has not stopped the press and media in general from doing their work with complete freedom and independence.
We have presented a general overview of press freedom in the Americas without details, since they will be discussed when we examine the specific situation of each country. The summary we have just presented is useful as a way to see the magnitude of the challenge ahead for lovers of liberty.
The Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, shoulder to shoulder with the Chapultepec Committee and the Impunity Committee, has been alert to threats and violations to press freedom since its beginning and is deploying as much as possible, the greatest effort to part the clouds and let rights shine through. In this vein, we have conducted joint missions with the Chapultepec Committee to Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica (twice), Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. We also had a presence in Quebec, Canada during the hemispheric summit. We went to Peru to celebrate with our colleagues there the return to legality after the long night of Fujimori and
Montesinos. In Washington, D.C., we worked with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to seek solutions in accordance with our principles, especially concerning the case of Guatemalan journalist Irma Flaquer.
In the past six months, we have sent 89 protest letters and 58 press releases seeking the respect the press and journalists of the hemisphere deserve.
It is worth mentioning that we have been received by Supreme Courts, sitting en banc, in some countries we visited, and we have suggested to them to possibility of having a hemisphere-wide meeting of judges and journalists in the near future as a way to mutually understand our functions in society.
Our struggle will not end, however, as long as one journalist is prevented from speaking his truth or one citizen cannot receive information freely.