(IPYS/IFEX) – In a motion presented to the Congress, the president of the Council of Ministers, Víctor Joy Way Rojas, was summoned by members of Congress from the opposition to report on the government’s response to the César Hildebrandt case. The journalist has denounced the fact that pressure is preventing his programme, “Hildebrandt por Enlace […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – In a motion presented to the Congress, the president of the
Council of Ministers, Víctor Joy Way Rojas, was summoned by members of
Congress from the opposition to report on the government’s response to the
César Hildebrandt case. The journalist has denounced the fact that pressure
is preventing his programme, “Hildebrandt por Enlace Global”, from being
aired.
**For background on other cases against Hildebrandt see IFEX alerts of 24
August, 21 August and 17 April 1998, 21 November, 10 July, 24 June, and 9
April 1997**
**
The motion was ratified by twenty-five legislators and outlined
Hildebrandt’s statement describing the pressures that have apparently
impeded his programme from being broadcast. According to him, the pressures
have not been refuted. The motion also stated that the journalist had
accepted the condition to appear in prerecorded programmes and thus avoid
the possibility of being accused of broadcasting information that should
not be transmitted, as this accusation was levelled against him in the past
(see IFEX alerts).
The same document states that the case of television businessman Baruch
Ivcher, “is an example of the government’s revenge against someone who is
not willing to submit to pressures against the independence of Frecuencia
Latina’s information programmes. It is an attempt to silence accusations of
abuses committed by this regime.”
Included in the motion is mention of the existence of slander campaigns,
harassment and threats (which have been proven) against critical or
investigative journalists, such as, for example, in the cases of Angel Páez,
José Arrieta and Gustavo Mohme. The document also makes note of the time
when the president of the Council of Ministers and then President of
Congress, was surprised by a news programme in the midst of outlining a
coercion plan against the press with the use of state advertising.
