Panama

The most important events concerning press freedom in the last six months are the following. The government has not kept its promises to revoke laws that restrict press freedom. The commissions named by Winston Spadafora, at that time government and justice minister, became ineffective, partly because of its membership, and above all because of an unwillingness to achieve concrete results. The former minister is now a justice of the Supreme Court and he is under investigation in a scandal involving alleged bribes to certain legislators whose votes were needed for the Legislative Assembly to confirm his nomination. On January 22, Law 6 on regulations for free access to public information was enacted. It was celebrated as a great triumph for Panamanian journalism. Lorenzo Abrego, a reporter of La Prensa, formally asked the national budget office for an up-to-date list of all the cars imported exempt from taxes owned by legislators, specifying the brand, model, year, CIF price and amount of exemption. After the time period of 30 calendar days provided for by the law, the journalist asked why he had not received an answer. The budget office said it could not provide it because the law's enabling regulations had not been implemented. This is making a mockery of the law, the assembly that passed it, the president who approved it and all the journalists and citizens of the country, since a law's enabling regulations only have to be enacted when the law itself requires it, which is not the case with this law. The journalist will file a habeas data appeal so a judge can decide the validity of the reasons that prevent the law of openness in public information from working. Judicial harassment continues of journalists, who are arbitrarily accused of alleged libel. The cases rarely are decided but serve as a pretext for constant summonses to give statements, then to amplify them, then for confrontation hearings, in general making their normal journalistic work more difficult. The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights in Panama criticized the justice system in general terms as corrupt, inefficient and subject to political manipulation. It was especially critical of the government's attitude toward journalists, because, "the Government and public figures make frequent use of libel and disrespect for authority laws to confront and attempt to intimidate journalists." Marcos Castillo, the new president of the National Journalists Colegio, proposed in his inauguration speech the establishment of a national committee to abolish laws that restrict press freedom, to eliminate so-called contempt laws and decriminalize libel. At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, three journalists reported that of 200 people working in the field in Panama, 90 have been named in criminal complaints of libel. In more than a third of the cases, the complainant is a public servant or influential public figure. "There is a policy of persecution and judicial repression against the media and critical journalists," they concluded. Sadly, this is the panorama of freedom of expression and the right to information in Panama.