Bolivia

BOLIVIA The April 18 declaration of a state of emergency by the government resulted in the arrest of six journalists covering the meeting of the Bolivian Workers Union. They were jailed in remote areas of the country, but were later freed as a result of national and international protests, including by the IAPA. The restriction of freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution was repudiated by the Bolivian Press Workers Federation which, in addition to holding a clandestine meeting which had been organized for that week, also carried out an April 25 demonstration dubbed "The National March for Defense of Freedom of the Press and of Expression" in front of the Government Palace. The government condemned the march through the Interior and Police Ministry secretary, who asserted that "journalists ought to be the first to conform to the current state of affairs." On August 25, a confidential bulletin issued by the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces was made public. The bulletin instructed members of the Armed Forces to "constantly follow" journalists "in order to prevent boycotts and other actions they may take against national security." The next day, the military chief asserted that the instructions were aimed at individuals who were passing themselves off as journalists but were not. He said that his instructions would remain in effect for security reasons. In other matters, two bills proposed by the executive branch for congressional consideration pose serious threats to press freedom. They are the Telecommunications Law and a Banking Law, which authorize telephone tapping in certaln cases with prior court consent, and establish prison sentences for journalists deemed to "affect the stability" of the national economy in their reporting. Strong pressure brought by press organizations managed to eliminate an article in the first bill which would have struck down the right to confidentiality of sources, guaranteed in the current Press Law. The second bill remains under debate. The Public Ministry law in Article 10 provides that the prosecutors (Public Ministry) require media owners to reveal sources of information. The Telecommunications Law establishes the tapping of telephhone conversations in blatant contradiction and violation of the Constitution. Government advertising is not distributed fairly. The president of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies, Dr. Guillermo Bedregal Gutierrez, asserted that the media had been engaging in "information terrorism" because of articles about contradictions affecting the public interest in law 1008 and the penal code.