(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 January 2002 IAPA press release: Presidents of Bolivia and Peru sign Declaration of Chapultepec Quiroga and Toledo agreed that all new Presidents should sign and promise to protect press freedom. More than 1,200 youth participated in the forum of the Inter American Press Association Miami (January 28, 2002) […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 January 2002 IAPA press release:
Presidents of Bolivia and Peru sign Declaration of Chapultepec
Quiroga and Toledo agreed that all new Presidents should sign and promise to protect press freedom. More than 1,200 youth participated in the forum of the Inter American Press Association
Miami (January 28, 2002) – The Presidents of Bolivia and Peru, Jorge Quiroga and Alejandro Toledo, respectively, signed the Declaration of Chapultepec promising to support and promote press freedom and the free flow of information in their countries, during a special ceremony last Friday, at the Government Palace, in La Paz.
President Quiroga and Peruvian leader Toledo, on official visit to Bolivia, received the IAPA delegation led by President Robert Cox, and First Vice President Andrés García Gamboa, during a ceremony that ended the three-day mission in La Paz which was organized by the hemispheric organization during the eighteenth Chapultepec National Forum.
Earlier that day, President Quiroga inaugurated the IAPA forum held at the auditorium of the Central Bank of Bolivia in La Paz, in which 1,200 youth participated. Quiroga emphasized that the ten principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec that promote press freedom are essential in “attacking poverty, maintaining an open economy, and fighting corruption.”
Quiroga said that before his presidency ends next August, he will be vigilant that constitutional reforms include the public’s right to information and other measures that protect press freedom; as does the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The day before, the President of the Bolivian House of Representatives, Luis Vásquez, also referred to legislation on access to public information during a ceremony at the National Congress paying tribute to the IAPA and declaring January 24th as “Press Freedom Day” in Bolivia.
“We will have two important dates in our country,” Quiroga declared, “October 10 as the day that democracy was restored to Bolivia and January 24 as the day that we dedicate to press freedom, and the two cannot be separated.”
In the Government Palace, Quiroga and Toledo referred to the importance that press freedom has played in their respective countries. The Peruvian leader said that the press played an essential role in the return of democracy following the regime of Alberto Fujimori and Vladimiro Montesinos. Both leaders praised the Declaration of Chapultepec and agreed that the document should be signed by each Latin American president who comes to power, committing him or herself to respect people and democracy.
IAPA President Cox, Assistant Editor of The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, expressed his gratitude for the Presidents’ commitment and support declaring, “that today marks a gigantic step for democracy in the entire hemisphere so that people can enjoy free and open debate and ideas.”
Besides Cox and García Gamboa, from Novedades de Quintana Roo, in Cancun, Mexico, the delegation was composed of: Rafael Molina Morillo, Ahora, Dominican Republic, and Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; Julio E. Muñoz, Executive Director; Ricardo Trotti, Coordinator of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; Jairo Lanao, Chapultepec Project Attorney; and Sean Casey, Chapultepec Project Administrator.
