(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an 8 November 1999 RSF press release on the situation of press freedom in Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. Also published by RSF is a list of “Who’s who in the Cuban independent press”, to give foreign correspondents present in Havana the opportunity to contact journalists who work for independent […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an 8 November 1999 RSF press release on the
situation of press freedom in Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. Also
published by RSF is a list of “Who’s who in the Cuban independent press”, to
give foreign correspondents present in Havana the opportunity to contact
journalists who work for independent news agencies.
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Paris, 8 November 1999
Ninth Ibero-American summit in Havana, Cuba – 15-16 November 1999
Four countries flout press freedom
Inexistent in Cuba; under threat in Colombia, Mexico and Peru
Press freedom is regularly violated in four of the 21 countries taking part
in the ninth Ibero-American summit: Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. The
figures gathered by Reporters Sans Frontières since the previous summit tell
the story: one journalist has been killed, four imprisoned, eight forced
into exile, 42 assaulted and 35 threatened. In addition, 67 cases of
pressure or hindrances to the free flow of information have been reported.
Although infringements of press freedom were not as serious in all these
countries, what they have in common is that they have failed to respect
their “commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms” declared in
Portugal in October 1998.
Cuba, which is hosting the summit, is the only country where journalists are
imprisoned because of their work, with four members of the profession
serving jail sentences. Bernardo Arévalo Padron, founder of the independent
news agency Línea Sur Press, sentenced to six years in November 1997 for
“insulting” Cuban leader Fidel Castro; Manuel Antonio González Castellanos,
a member of the independent news agency Cuba Press, arrested on 1 October
1998 and sentenced to two years and seven months in jail for a similar
offence; Leonardo Varona González of the news agency Santiago Press,
arrested on 2 October 1998 and serving a 16-month sentence for “insulting”
Fidel Castro; and Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández, a member of the Cooperativa
Ávileña de Periodistas Independientes, sentenced to four years in January
1999 because his work as a journalist was regarded as a “danger to society”.
In Cuba, where even the constitution states that “freedom of speech and of
the press are subject to the aims of the socialist society”, only the state
press is officially allowed to exist. Independent journalists – about 50
belong to ten news agencies that are not recognised by the government – are
victims of continual pressure to force them to give up their work. Since the
last Ibero-American summit, 40 of them have been arrested, 26 threatened
with legal action and six assaulted or threatened with assault, not to
mention the various forms of pressure put on members of their families
(expulsion from their homes, threats of dismissal from their employment,
telephone harassment). For the fourth year running, Raúl Rivero, founder and
manager of the Cuba Press news agency, was refused a visa to leave Cuba. The
authorities are only willing to give him a permanent exit visa, which the
journalist has refused because he wishes to return to his country. Four
other journalists, pushed to the limit, have decided to go into exile,
bringing to 12 the number who have fled Cuba since 1995. Government pressure
increased after a new law providing for up to 20 years in jail for anyone
who makes contact with foreign media or distributes “subversive” documents
came into force on 15 March this year.
In Peru, the secret service is the worst enemy of the media. In a report
published in May 1999, Santiago Canton, special rapporteur on freedom of
expression for the Organisation of American States (OAS), expressed concern
about a plan targeting the media drawn up by the Peruvian secret service
(Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional – SIN). The “Octavio Plan” is believed to
have been launched in 1996 in response to the “threat” posed to national
security by journalists investigating the methods used by the army. Details
of the plan published in the Peruvian press tally with information collected
by Reporters Sans Frontières in 1997 and 1998 about the pressure exerted on
about 15 investigative reporters: phone tapping, threats of criminal
proceedings, death threats and so on. In June 1998, President Alberto
Fujimori promised to open inquiries, but the findings have never been made
public. In 1999, 18 provincial media were once again the subject of pressure
from the police and army. On 24 September, a group of journalists were
prosecuted because they had accused the army intelligence service of
involvement in “incidents” during the opposition candidates’ campaign for
the presidential election scheduled for April 2000.
Peruvian journalists can no longer count on the courts to defend their
rights. The independence of the judiciary has not been guaranteed since the
introduction of the government-controlled system of “provisional judges” in
1992. In May 1999, two judges who had agreed to investigate a complaint
filed by seven journalists known for their investigation of the SIN’s work
were assigned to other duties. Moreover, on 9 July, the Fujimori government
decided to stop recognising the competence of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights, depriving Peruvian defendants of the right of appeal to an
international court. This decision, which the court itself described as
“inadmissible”, came as it was studying a complaint filed by Baruch Ivcher
against the Peruvian state. Ivcher, the majority shareholder in the
television channel Frecuencia Latina, had been deprived of his control of
the company by a 1997 government decree after the channel accused the SIN of
involvement in a phone-tapping scandal.
In Colombia and Mexico, attacks on journalists have continued. In Colombia,
Jaime Garzon, a journalist and humorist with Radionet and Caracol
Television, was murdered on 13 August 1999. Some observers suspect
extremists in the army, who are opposed to the peace process, of being
behind the killing. Two other journalists have been murdered in Colombia in
1999 but it is not yet clear whether the motives were connected with their
profession. Since 1 January 1999, five journalists have been assaulted in
Colombia, ten threatened, eight taken hostage and four forced to seek refuge
abroad. Since 1996, at least ten journalists have been forced to leave the
country because their lives were threatened. Seven of the eight journalists
taken hostage this year were kidnapped by the communist Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC) which for five days took them to the scenes of
executions carried out by the paramilitary United Self-Defence Groups of
Colombia (AUC). The AUC is believed to have been responsible for the threats
received by two of the four journalists forced into exile this year: Antonio
Morales of the daily El Espectador and Hernándo Corral Garzon of the TV
newscast “Telenoticiero de las siete”. Both of them, like Jaime Garzon, were
known for their support of negotiations between the government and guerrilla
groups.
In Mexico, seven journalists have been assaulted and five others threatened
in 1999. They include Jesús Barraza, editor of the weekly Pulso, in
north-western Sonora state, who was threatened in early May by a presumed
drug trafficker. Three of the five journalists murdered in Mexico in 1997
and 1998 were killed because of their investigation of drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government is trying to control information
concerning the troubled Chiapas state. Marco Ugarte, a photographer with the
news agency Associated Press, was arrested in the region on 21 August 1999.
In late July, Hélène Roux, a freelance reporter, was refused a visa without
explanation.
Colombia and Mexico alone were the scene of two-thirds of the murders of
journalists committed in Latin America over the past five years. So far none
of the killers have been brought to trial and sentenced. Some have been
arrested but the cases have not come to court. In Mexico, Jaime González
Gutiérrez, who is suspected of killing Benjamin Flores González on 15 July
1997, was released from custody on 5 March 1999. Despite requests for
information to the Mexican authorities by Reporters Sans Frontières, no
explanation has been forthcoming.
Recommendations
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the Cuban government to immediately
release the four journalists currently in prison, and to recognise
independent news agencies. We also ask Cuba to ratify the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Reporters Sans Frontières asks the Peruvian government to publish the
conclusions of its investigation of pressure on journalists and the media
over the past three years. We also call for the legal proceedings started
against journalists who made allegations against the secret service to be
dropped, and for those allegations to be investigated. Finally, Reporters
Sans Frontières asks Peru to undertake, before the countries participating
at the summit, to respect the verdict of the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights on the Baruch Ivcher case. The court has said that Peru’s decision to
strip it of its competence can only take effect a year after the decision
was announced.
Reporters Sans Frontières calls on the Colombian and Mexican governments to
take steps to ensure the safety of journalists who are threatened and to
prosecute the presumed killers of those murdered. Tolerating impunity means,
at the very least, taking the risk that they will commit similar crimes in
future. It also means that journalists are forced into self-censorship over
sensitive issues such as corruption, or violence by the police and army.
Reporters Sans Frontières calls for the setting up at the summit of a
Committee for the Defence of Freedom and Human Rights, to form part of the
member countries’ permanent office, and which would have the task of
monitoring the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including
press freedom. Participants have reaffirmed those rights at the three
previous summits.
________________________________________________________________________
Who’s who in the Cuban independent press
Reporters Sans Frontières asks foreign correspondents going to Havana for
the Ibero-American summit to make contact with journalists working for
independent news agencies which the Cuban government has refused to
recognise. These journalists are the victims of constant harassment, such as
arrests, threats of prosecution and pressure on their families. Four of them
are currently in prison, while 12 others have been forced into exile since
1995. The dissident journalists broadcast their reports by talking to radio
stations based in Florida beaming programmes at Cuba. The reports are taken
up by the international press or put on web sites.
Independent journalists in Havana
Raúl Rivero – head of Cuba Press
Tel.: (53 7) 30 39 481
Raúl Rivero was one of the pioneers of the current independent press. In
September 1995 he founded Cuba Press, which is now one of the biggest
independent news agencies, with about 20 journalists working for it. Its
reports are published on the sites www.noticub.org and
www.cubafreepress.org.
Ángel Pablo Polanco – head of Noticuba
Tel.: (53 7) 41 66 49
Noticuba is one of the most recently formed Cuban news agencies. Since
September 1999 its founder, Ángel Pablo Polanco, has been arrested three
times for covering peaceful protests by human rights organisations that are
not recognised by the government. Noticuba, which is made up of nine
journalists, plans to put its reports on the site www.cubanet.org shortly.
Jorge Olivera – head of Havana Press
Tel.: (53 7) 63 32 32
Havana Press is one of the first four news agencies started in 1995. It now
includes about ten journalists. On 1 November 1999, in a televised speech,
Fidel Castro referred to Jorge Olivera and 16 other independent journalists
for the first time, describing them as “counter-revolutionaries” and
“conspirators”. His words raised fears that repression may by stepped up
once the summit is over. Havana Press publishes its reports on
www.nuevaprensa.com.
Mario Viera – head of Cuba Voz
Tel.: (53 7) 70 18 90 (c/o Manuel David Orrio)
Mario Viera was charged with “libel” in October 1998 following publication
of a report on www.cubanet.org in which he criticised a high-ranking
official. Although he now has an exit visa, the government is refusing to
let him leave the country until after the trial and is using the threat of
further proceedings to silence him.
María de los Ángeles González Amaro – head of Union de Periodistas y
Escritores de Cuba Independientes (UPECI)
Tel.: (53 7) 44 57 88 (c/o Celia Jorge)
Maria de los Ángeles González Amaro had already been working in the
independent press for two years when she decided to set up her own news
agency, UPECI, in 1997. Since then she has frequently been a victim of
pressure (she is arrested, her phone line is cut, and so on). Her reports
and those of her five colleagues can be consulted on www.cubanet.org.
Lorenzo Páez Núñez – a member of Agencia Nueva Prensa (ANP) in Artemisa,
Havana province Tel.: (53 6) 33 34 75 (c/o friend)
Lorenzo Páez Núñez has been working for the ANP agency since his release
from jail on 4 January 1999. In July 1997 he was sentenced to 18 months’
imprisonment for “insulting” the national police and for “libel”. ANP, which
employs about ten journalists, is run by Mercedes Moreno and publishes
reports on www.nuevaprensa.com.
Independent journalists in the provinces
Santiago Santana – head of the Agencia de Prensa Libre Oriental (APLO) in
Santiago de Cuba
Tel.: (53 2) 26 34 836
Repression of news agencies in the provinces is made worse by their
isolation. Santiago Santana is continuing his work along with eight
colleagues, even though his camera and tape recorder were recently
confiscated by the authorities. The agency’s reports are published on
www.cubanet.org.
Berta Mexidor Vázquez – head of Libertad in Las Tunas
Tel.: (53 3) 14 51 90 (c/o friend)
In late August, Berta Mexidor Vázquez was thrown out of her state-owned
apartment because of her work as a journalist. She and seven colleagues
still publish news on www.cubanet.org or pass it on to the Cuba Press
agency.
Julia Leon – member of Cooperativa Ávileña de Periodistas Independientes
(CAPI) in Ciego de Ávila
Tel.: (53 3) 39 11 54
Julia Leon has been working for CAPI since it was started in December 1998.
The agency’s founder, Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández, is one of the four
journalists currently in prison in Cuba, officially because he is “a danger
to society”. Five other journalists are still working for CAPI with Julia
Leon. Their work is published on www.cubanet.org.
Alina Ramírez – a member of Santiago Press in Santiago de Cuba
Tel.: (53 2) 26 53 942
Alina Ramírez has been working for Santiago Press since 1997. One of the
other members of this small agency (four journalists), Leonardo Varona
González, is currently serving a 16-month jail sentence for “insulting”
Fidel Castro. When its telephone lines are not cut, Santiago Press
broadcasts its reports on a Miami-based radio station or sends them to Cuba
Press.
