Miami (December 20, 2010)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today described as “a disproportionate abuse” action by police against executives and journalists of an Ecuadorean magazine in which they raided their building and seized equipment and personal belongings.
Fifteen police officers had on Friday burst into the building of the Quito-based magazine Vanguardia on instructions of officials of the government agency Fideicomiso No más impunidad (No More Impunity Trust). The order was said to be based on the magazine’s alleged failure to pay rent for its building, but the executives of the magazine believed it to have been a retaliation by the government for their publication’s critical editorial stance.
During the raid police confiscated the computers used by the journalists, banged on doors, seized personal belongings and patted down male and female reporters there in search of weapons.
IAPA President Gonzalo Marroquín expressed surprise at “this episode, which if true that is was because of unpaid rent for a building, would mean we are witnessing a disproportionate abuse.”
“Moreover,” said Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, “the fact that they have taken away the computers – journalists’ tools for doing their job, doing research and filing – would seem to indicate that the police are up to something more important than settling a financial account.”
He added that the excessive use of force and taking away work tools amount to an abuse of power and a “clear case of violation of press freedom, which the authorities must rectify as there already existed the intent to damage the magazine by putting restrictions on its ability to disseminate its contents.”
Vanguardia is an independent weekly publication that expresses criticism of the government of the day. In its five years of existence it has been the object of attacks and discrimination, both in the placement of government advertising and in access to information by public officials. Several investigations and news reports it published about the government of President Rafael Correa led to public criticism and reprisals from officials at the time.
In an editorial published by Vanguardia in its issue number 271 today it questions the speed with which the government agency ordered the raid – action was taken in five minutes, while the order set a three-day lapse. Executives of the magazine are considering what legal action they might take concerning the confiscation of the computers.
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.
