(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 17 September 2002 IAPA press release: Another Two Caribbean Nations Endorse Declaration of Chapultepec Miami (September 17, 2002) – The Caribbean nations of Antigua & Barbuda and Trinidad & Tobago endorsed the Declaration of Chapultepec, sponsored by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). The highest authorities in both countries […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 17 September 2002 IAPA press release:
Another Two Caribbean Nations Endorse Declaration of Chapultepec
Miami (September 17, 2002) – The Caribbean nations of Antigua & Barbuda and Trinidad & Tobago endorsed the Declaration of Chapultepec, sponsored by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). The highest authorities in both countries signed the Declaration in ceremonies held last week.
The Declaration of Chapultepec, drafted during a hemispheric conference in Mexico in 1994, contains 10 principles necessary to guarantee freedom of the press and to support democracy. It has been backed by the majority of the hemisphere’s governments.
Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago, signed in the capital of Port-of-Spain, on Thursday, September 12, during a ceremony before government officials and the island’s press. Mr. Manning’s predecessor Basdeo Panday refused to sign the Declaration of Chapultepec during his term as Prime Minister from 1995 to 2001 because of what he called the media’s “dissemination of lies, half-truths, and innuendoes.”
The following day, Prime Minister Lester B. Bird of Antigua & Barbuda signed in the capital of St. John’s. After signing the Declaration, the Prime Minister proposed taking the Declaration to Parliament, “â¦by way of Resolution so that it will be debated and all parliamentarians can support the ten principles.”
Last May, the IAPA began a campaign to receive the support of the leaders of the English-speaking Caribbean. Only Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados and Prime Minister Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia still have not signed.
Besides Barbados and Saint Lucia, of the 35 countries in the Western Hemisphere, the Declaration of Chapultepec has not been signed by Canada, Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.
The IAPA was represented by Julio E. Muñoz, Executive Director, and Sean Casey, Chapultepec Project Administrator. IAPA members, Ken Gordon, Trinidad Express, and Craig Reynald, Caribbean Communications Network, attended the ceremony in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and representatives from the leading papers The Daily Observer and The Antigua Sun participated in the signing ceremony in Antigua.
