(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – The following is a 4 August 2000 PERIODISTAS letter to Governor Carlos Juárez, following the repeated violations of freedom of expression in Santiago del Estero province: Buenos Aires, Friday 4 August 2000 Mister CARLOS ARTURO JUAREZ Governor of Santiago del Estero Province Dear Sir: Freedom of expression is fundamental for the strengthening of […]
(PERIODISTAS/IFEX) – The following is a 4 August 2000 PERIODISTAS letter to Governor Carlos Juárez, following the repeated violations of freedom of expression in Santiago del Estero province:
Buenos Aires, Friday 4 August 2000
Mister CARLOS ARTURO JUAREZ
Governor of Santiago del Estero Province
Dear Sir:
Freedom of expression is fundamental for the strengthening of a truly democratic society. In defence of this right, PERIODISTAS – the Association for the Defence of Independent Journalism (Asociacion para la Defensa del Periodismo Independiente) – is writing you to express its profound concern and its firm repudiation of the repeated attacks against press freedom and freedom of expression in the province that you govern.
An alarming number of denunciations against these attacks have been issued in Santiago del Estero. Between 1993 and 1998, the province’s Press Club registered about 100 attacks (of all kinds) against journalists.
In 1997, Monsignor Gerardo Sueldo created a secretariat in his diocese which, in less than a year and a half, received a similar number of reports of human rights violations.
As a result of the repeated killings of youth by the provincial security police, an organisation called Mothers of Grief (Madres del dolor) was formed.
The morning paper El Liberal recently reported on an intelligence network which spies on the media and on public and political figures in the province. The play which you censored, “El cartero de Neruda”, will finally debut further to the intervention of the national government.
In addition, we note the influence of Subsecretary of Information Antonio Musa Azar – identified by CONADEP as having played a role in the disappearance of persons during the last dictatorship – and the ombudsmanâs authority to seize any type of information from any media. All these factors strengthen the impression that a climate of insecurity prevails in the province.
Democracy is still a young institution in Argentina and it will require a great amount of care to permit its development. PERIODISTAS is certain that the strengthening of democracy in Argentina will not be possible without respect for the right to freedom of expression, and thus requests that you intervene as governor to clarify the reported incidents and punish those who commit violations in the name of the government.
Yours very truly,
Ana Baron, Santo Biasatti, Nelson Castro, Ariel Delgado, Rosendo Fraga, Carlos Gabetta, Rogelio GarcÃa Lupo, Isidoro Gilbert, Andrew Graham-Yooll, Mariano Grondona, Roberto Guareschi,
Monica Gutiérrez, Ricardo Kirschbaum, Jorge Lanata, José Ignacio Lopez, Fanny Mandelbaum, Tomás Eloy MartÃnez, JoaquÃn Morales Solá, MarÃa Moreno, Silvia Naishtat, James Neilson, Teresa Pacitti, Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú, Hermenegildo Sábat, Fernán Saguier, MarÃa Seoane,
Oscar Serrat, Ernesto Tiffenberg and Horacio Verbitsky.
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
Carlos Arturo Juárez
Governor
Santiago del Estero Province
Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Fax: +54 385 422 1066
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