Miami (March 15, 2010)– Approximately 250 editors and publishers from the Western Hemisphere will take a close look at the setbacks in press freedom throughout the Americas when they meet beginning Friday in Aruba at the biannual membership meeting of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).
The principle mission of the IAPA’s Midyear Meeting, which will be officially opened by Prime Ministers Michiel Eman, of Aruba, and Emily De Jongh-Elhage of the Netherlands Antilles, is to review the major problems limiting freedom of the press and free speech and develop strategies so that the fundamental human rights are not violated.
Review of the country-by-country reports from Latin America, North America and the Caribbean will begin on Saturday when it is expected that the following issues will provoke intense discussion: the murder and kidnapping of journalists in Mexico and Honduras linked to organized crime; the imprisonment of journalists in Cuba and hunger strikes by dissidents to demonstrate resistance; the closing of news media in Venezuela, together with the creation of state-owned media there as well as in Ecuador and Bolivia; the enactment or proposed bills for gag laws in Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay; legislation on professional confidentiality and regulations on the Internet in the United States, and legal actions used to continue censoring media and journalists in Brazil, to name a few.
Special attention will be given during the meeting to the plight of the press in Haiti and Chile following earthquakes. The IAPA has joined other organizations in the hemisphere in an effort to give financial aid to rebuild the news media that was devastated in each country. In this regard, the editors and publishers of the leading newspapers of Haiti, La Nouvelliste and Le Matin, will present reports on their situations.
Two special reports on freedom of the press will be delivered in Aruba: on the difficulties faced by Venezuelan news media to operate without government interference and the poor state of health that independent journalists are suffering in Cuban prisons, as well as the frail state of journalist Guillermo Fariñas who is holding his hunger strike to demand for the release of prisoners of conscience in his country.
The meeting will close on Monday (March 22) with adoption by the IAPA membership of resolutions and conclusions, which will immediately be sent to the Western Hemisphere governments concerned.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information, please go to http://www.sipiapa.org
