(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a parliamentary inquiry into alleged spying by the National Intelligence Council (Consejo Nacional de Inteligencia, CNI) on journalists who work for “La Ventana Indiscreta” (“The Indiscreet Window”), a programme on the privately-owned television station Frecuencia Latina, as well as journalists from other television stations. The spying allegations were made […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for a parliamentary inquiry into alleged spying by the National Intelligence Council (Consejo Nacional de Inteligencia, CNI) on journalists who work for “La Ventana Indiscreta” (“The Indiscreet Window”), a programme on the privately-owned television station Frecuencia Latina, as well as journalists from other television stations. The spying allegations were made by “La Ventana Indiscreta” during its 14 September 2003 broadcast.
“The CNI’s alleged actions are serious since they jeopardise the confidentiality of sources, the cornerstone of press freedom and investigative journalism,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Congressional President Henry Pease García.
“It is unacceptable that the CNI’s chairman, Alfonso Panizo Zariquiey, should try to justify the use of totally illegal and illegitimate methods by citing the need to identify those responsible for internal leaks,” Ménard added.
In its 14 September broadcast, “La Ventana Indiscreta” focused on two internal reports allegedly prepared by the CNI. The first, entitled “Enrique 2003” and dated 18 August, indicated there was a plan to identify government employees who supplied the press with classified information about senior CNI officials.
The report contained the personal details (background information, qualifications, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses) of members of the “La Ventana Indiscreta” team, headed by Enrique Flor Zappler. It also accused Flor Zappler of hiring private security companies, with a judge’s complicity, to tap the telephones of senior CNI personnel and other officials.
The second report, entitled “Enrique II,” covered the CNI’s surveillance of Flor Zappler and said there had been a “detailed investigation” of incoming and outgoing calls from the “La Ventana Indiscreta” offices. Cecilia Valenzuela, the programme’s host, said the following journalists had also been subject to surveillance: Cesar Hildebrandt, host of the Frecuencia Latina programme “La Boca del Lobo” (“The Wolf’s Mouth”), Juan Carlos Tafur, editor of the daily “Correo”, and Jaime de Althaus, host of the news programme “La Hora N” on the cable television station Canal N.
In an interview published by the daily “El Comercio” on 15 September, CNI Chairman Panizo Zariquiey acknowledged that the reports presented on the television programme were authentic. He explained that his intelligence agency did not want to target the press, but only sought to identify which CNI employees were guilty of leaking information.
“The reports broadcast on Cecilia Valenzuela’s programme were leaked by employees of this agency, who want to have my head and destabilise the CNI,” Panizo Zariquiey said on Canal N. He also said there would be an investigation into the reports’ authors, and claimed to have been previously unaware of the reports’ existence.
