(Freedom House/IFEX) – The following is a 12 January 2004 Freedom House press release: DEMOCRACY SHOULD BE ON AMERICAS SUMMIT AGENDA NEW YORK, January 12, 2004 — Leaders at the Special Summit in Monterrey, Mexico should focus significant attention on the emerging and troubling trends in democracy in the region, Freedom House said today. While […]
(Freedom House/IFEX) – The following is a 12 January 2004 Freedom House press release:
DEMOCRACY SHOULD BE ON AMERICAS SUMMIT AGENDA
NEW YORK, January 12, 2004 — Leaders at the Special Summit in Monterrey, Mexico should focus significant attention on the emerging and troubling trends in democracy in the region, Freedom House said today.
While democracy is vibrant in many countries in the region, it is being eroded in several countries by some worrying developments, the nongovernmental organization said.
Strengthening democratic government is one of the main topics of the scheduled meeting of the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Freedom House also calls on the Summit to issue an explicit statement condemning the Castro regime’s crackdown last year on independent civic activists, librarians, writers, and journalists, who were sentenced to draconian jail terms for the exercise of their fundamental human rights. Freedom House calls on the Summit to issue a statement that supports a strongly worded resolution on Cuban repression to be taken up at the forthcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Freedom House identified troubling regional trends in its latest annual global survey of political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World 2004.
While the Americas has seen tremendous gains for democracy and freedom in the last 30 years of the survey, only 23 of 35 countries in the region have achieved sufficient progress in political rights and civil liberties to be rated Free. Ten countries are rated Partly Free, and two countries (Haiti and Cuba) are rated Not Free.
“It is the responsibility of democratically elected presidents meeting in Monterrey to address this dangerous democratic stagnation which impedes the progress of democracy in the region and threatens a potential democratic breakdown in several countries in the hemisphere,” said Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor.
Argentina was the only country that showed marked progress last year, as it moved from Partly Free to Free on the strength of the democratic election of President Kirchner, and advances made in the fight against corruption.
Bolivia represented the most significant deterioration, with the forced resignation of President Sanchez de Losada in October 2003 following a revolt by Bolivian indigenous groups, workers, and students. A brutal government crackdown on the protestors left 80 people dead, and Bolivia’s indigenous majority continues to resent the failure of nearly two decades of democratic reform and economic restructuring to improve their situation. As a result, Bolivia was downgraded from Free to Partly Free.
Central America has seen deterioration in freedom, particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Rampant gang related crime and violence in El Salvador and Honduras, combined with draconian responses from their governments, have impinged upon the freedom of ordinary citizens. In Guatemala, political violence in the months leading up to the elections left 30 people dead. Ineffectual or non-existent prosecution of human rights offenses continues to be a critical problem, and the participation of the military in both political and criminal violence is well documented.
In Venezuela, a recall referendum and increased political violence in the past year exemplified the polarization of the nation. The general strike that lasted for two months in an attempt to oust President Chavez created serious economic hardship throughout the country. On a national level, Chavez seeks to consolidate absolute control as he and his supporters intimidate the media and protestors. Already controlling most public institutions, Chavez is militarizing Venezuela by using the army in implementing politicized education, and by giving the armed forces a major role in social development and public services.
Throughout the region, constitutional and social reforms have not reached many of the indigenous, poor, or rural populations, and political institutions are not representative of the broad spectrum of the population. Widespread corruption contributes to a lack of confidence in public institutions, especially in judicial systems.
Another area of concern involves the deterioration of press freedom in the Americas. In Freedom House’s latest Freedom of the Press survey, only 18 of the 35 countries are rated Free (down from 21 the year before). Political instability and civil conflict in Colombia and Venezuela lowered those countries’ ratings to Not Free, placing them with Cuba and Haiti as the hemisphere’s most repressive environments for press freedom.
Restrictions worsened in Cuba last week when the government announced even tighter controls over Internet use. Private citizens, who were already banned from legally accessing the Internet at home, now suffer increased government monitoring of their telephone lines in an attempt to crack down on illegal Internet surfing.
The concentration of media ownership and legal pressures against journalists critical of government are also issues of concern throughout the region.
“The Freedom House data clearly show that one third of the region’s countries must improve in several areas before becoming stable democracies,” said Ms. Windsor. “Free and fair elections, like those recently held in Guatemala, offer hope, but must be combined with further developments essential to democracy, such as the creation of free and independent judiciaries, decreased corruption, increased press freedom, and greater inclusion of minority populations in the political process,” she said.
For more background, including country reports, see:
Freedom in the World 2004
http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/survey2004.htm
Freedom of the Press 2003
http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/pressurvey.htm
