(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 25 August 2000 letter to Paraguayan President Luis González Macchi, CPJ expressed its deep concern about press-freedom violations in Paraguay since the 13 August vice-presidential elections. In the tense climate that followed the elections, several Paraguayan journalists have been attacked and threatened, according to CPJ sources and local press reports. On […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 25 August 2000 letter to Paraguayan President Luis González Macchi,
CPJ expressed its deep concern about press-freedom violations in Paraguay since the 13 August vice-presidential elections. In the tense climate that followed the elections, several Paraguayan journalists have been attacked and threatened, according to CPJ sources and local press reports.
On the afternoon of 13 August, a mysterious radio signal interfered with the frequency of the Asuncion-based radio station Radio Primero de Marzo. Moments before the station was to broadcast a political program announcing the results of its exit polls, unidentified voices speaking in the Guaraní language threatened to blow up its transmitting equipment and to “disappear” the program’s host, who is a vocal critic of President González Macchi’s government. The rogue signal remained on the air for about an hour and a half, according to CPJ sources in Paraguay.
On 15 August, supporters of the ruling Colorado Party attacked the Asuncion-based radio station Radio Ñandutí, according to local press reports. On their way to a protest demonstration in front of the Superior Court for Electoral Justice (TSJE), they threw stones and bottles at Radio Ñandutí’s offices. Local sources have told CPJ that Radio Ñandutí was one of only a few local media that predicted Liberal party candidate Julio César Franco’s victory in the vice-presidential race, which was announced on 24 August.
Apparently, followers of Colorado Party candidate Félix Argaña, son of former vice-president Luis María Argaña, who was gunned down in Asuncion in March 1999, took issue with Radio Ñandutí’s exit polls, which suggested that Franco was leading.
CPJ is also very concerned about the brutal and apparently premeditated assault on Elizabeth Palma, a reporter with the television station Canal 9. Palma was run over on 17 August by a vehicle driven by Calixto Arguello, security chief for then-Comptroller of the Republic Daniel Fretes, who is mired in a corruption scandal (he currently faces trial on nineteen separate counts of corruption during his time in office.) Local press reports suggested that Arguello ran over Palma in order to discourage her and other journalists from questioning Fretes, who was leaving the Comptroller’s Office building at the time.
As a result of the attack, Palma suffered a pelvis fracture and back injuries. The journalist is currently at home, where she will be immobilized for a month. CPJ sources fear this attack will go unpunished as long as Arguello remains at the Comptroller’s Office.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– urging His Excellency to investigate these attacks and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice
– calling on him to ensure that all Paraguayan journalists may cover the news without fear of violent reprisals for their work
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency Luis González Macchi
President of the Republic of Paraguay
Asuncion, Paraguay
Fax: +595 21 450 025Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
