(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 November 1999, the National Constituent Assembly (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, ANC) ratified, on the second reading, and in all of its terms, Article 59 of the draft constitution which is slated to be debated in a referendum. The article in question states that “everyone has the right to timely, truthful, impartial and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 November 1999, the National Constituent Assembly
(Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, ANC) ratified, on the second reading, and
in all of its terms, Article 59 of the draft constitution which is slated to
be debated in a referendum. The article in question states that “everyone
has the right to timely, truthful, impartial and uncensored information”.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 12 November, 26 October and 5 October 1999**
RSF believes that this article acutely threatens press freedom by giving the
three qualifiers “timely, truthful and impartial” arbitrary interpretations,
and limiting journalists’ freedom to express personal opinions and to
present working hypotheses which are unverifiable. Fernando Castello, RSF’s
president, explained that this way of thinking would mean “information about
corruption in Venezuela could be truthful and impartial, but not timely” or
“the opinion of a journalist could be timely and truthful but not really
impartial.”
According to Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, “the Venezuelan people’
s freedom to information will be threatened.”
“Why did they approve that particular article, if not to use it later?”
asked Ménard, “especially when it is an inconvenience for the government
because of the negative image it projects externally.” The secretary-general
warned that RSF “will be waiting to see what happens with regards to press
freedom in Venezuela.”
Finally, the RSF directors expressed their surprise over the violence of the
terms used by President Hugo Chávez, when he publicly referred to them as
“scoundrels” for having maintained a position similar to his own, against
the modifications of the right to freedom of information. Castello and
Ménard noted that RSF is not calling into question the constitutional
process currently underway in Venezuela, but rather that it is RSF’s mandate
to denounce threats to and violations of press freedom in Venezuela, and in
the rest of the world.
Furthermore, in response to the criticisms of the Venezuelan president, who
asserted that “they did not maintain vigilance when Jaime Lusinchi or Carlos
Andrés Pérez were in power,” the two men invited him to consult RSF’s annual
reports since its inception. On 14 February 1992, the organisation protested
the occupation of the offices of the “El Nacional” newspaper and the
censorship imposed by the Department of Intelligence and Police
Investigation Services (DISIP, Direccion de Inteligencia y Servicios de
Investigacion de la Policía). In June 1995, RSF expressed its concerns over
the pressures exerted by the Department of Military Intelligence (Direccion
de la Inteligencia Militar, DIM) against Vladimir Gessen and Enrique Rondon
of the “Diario de Caracas”, after the publication of an article citing
declarations by lieutenant-colonel Hugo Chávez, known for his 1992 coup
attempt. In 1996 and 1997, the organisation undertook several actions to
bring about the release of William Ojeda, then journalist with Radio Caracas
and current constituent, when he was condemned to a year in prison at the
end of 1996 for his book, “How much does a judge cost?”
Alerted by the first approval of the article by the ANC on 23 October,
Castello and Ménard travelled to Caracas from 2 to 6 November. While there,
they interviewed a number of government officials, members of the ANC, as
well as press executives and journalists’ representatives. At the end of
their stay in Caracas, the two RSF directors denounced the “official
double-speak”, made evident by the fact that while the government said they
were against the article in question, the ANC approved it by an overwhelming
majority. “The approval of Article 59 in its second reading is proof of the
double-speak we have denounced,” concluded Castello.
