Bolivia

Before the June 30 elections, the National Congress approved changes in the law that overturned measures in the Electoral Code and the Copnstitutional Reform Law that limited press freedom. On April 10, an event occurred that shook the journalistic community. María Teresa Guzmán de Carrasco, executive editor of El Diario and wife of Jorge Carrasco Jahnsen, the paper’s editor, was killed when a bomb exploded in the back of her car as she was going home from the newspaper. Her chauffeur, Guillermo Zenteno, was injured. Only minutes earlier the journalist had said goodbye to her husband. As a result of the investigation, her husband has been detained in a high security prison in La Paz as the main suspect. He has said he did not commit the crime and that his wife was murdered in reprisal for articles published in El Diario. Before the election campaign that brought the new president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, to power, Congress approved a law amending the Electoral Code (December 3, 2001) whose Article 119 flagrantly threatened freedoms of the press and of business. This article required all media outlets to register in the National Electoral Court the programs, times and schedules as well as fees that are in effect during the campaign. These must not be more than the average advertising fees charged in the first half of the year before the election. After lobbying by journalism organizations, Congress approved a law on April 30 saying that Article 119 of the Electoral Code would not be in effect for the June 30 general election. Article 119 requires that the National Electoral Court publish 15 days after elections are called a list of media outlets authorized to carry election propaganda, and says that political parties may not buy propaganda in unauthorized outlets. It also says that media companies that carry election propaganda without being authorized by the National Electoral Court may be sanctioned with a fine equal to double the average fees for the time and space sold. It also sets sanctions against media outlets that violate the law, such as suspension of political announcements and propaganda for a period to be determined by the National Electoral Court. During the campaign, an effort also was made to overturn the Print Law, which has been in effect since 1925. The Constituitional Reform Law says in Article 23, “Any person who believes that he has been improperly or illegally prevented from learning, objecting to or obtaining the elimination or correction of information reported in any physical electronic, magnetic or computing medium in public or private files or databases that affect his basic right to personal or family privacy, honor or reputation recognized in this constitution may issue a habeas data appeal to the district high court or any other court, at his choice.” Paragraph II says, “if the appropriate court or judge upholds the appeal, he will order the disclosure, elimination or correction of the personal information that was challenged.” Just as in the case of the changes to the Electoral Code, this article provoked statements of opposition by journalistic organizations, which said it threatened the confidentiality of sources. The pressure caused the legislators to correct the amendment, including in the Electoral Reform Law a new paragraph, IV, that clearly states, “The habeas data appeal may not remove secrets with regard to the press.” The Constitutional Reform Law is now under consideration in Congress, which will send it to the executive branch to be enacted. In September, after many years, the Press Court held a hearing to clarify the libel charge brought by former Government Minister Walter Guiteras Denis against the editor of the sensationalist newspaper Extra of La Paz following an incident involving the official and his wife. After the Press Jury was set up, it had to consider the statute of limitations for the alleged crime, because the charge was not made within four months of the challenged article, according to the defendant’s brief. The court began considering the request, and it was shelved because of the statute of limitations.