Bolivia

Aa
$.-
BOLIVIA Bolivian journalists signed an agreement on September 10 to defend free speech and combat corruption in government. The National Chamber of Media, an entity consisting of newspapers, television and radio, the Bolivian Federation of Press Workers and the Journalists Association, met in La Paz to agree on joint action "to defend freedom of information and expression as an essential right so that the media - both publishers and journalists - may report accurately and guide citizens in the spirit of a free press." The group also pledged to defend the ufundamental basis of the existenee and development of the country and its principal institutions, combating corruption, violations of human rights and any action against the democratic process" and resolved to "interpret any aggression against an individual or institution belonging to the group as an aggression against the group as a whole and to respond energetically, in the context of legality, to those responsible for abuses or threats that put full liberty at risk." On September 20, the National Congress of Press Leaders of Bolivia went further, declaring it would sponsor the creation cf a commission to investigate complaints of corruption in Bolivia. Meanwhile, a leftist party accused the government coalition member Nationalist Democratic Action party of being "fraudulent and clandestine" in its purchase of three television stations and a newspaper for more than $1 million, saying it aimed to launch an "ideological campaign destined to control the media" during the upcoming race leading to the June 1993 elections. It named the Information Minister and the president of the Bolivian Oil Company, a nephew of former dietator Gen. Hugo Banzer, as executives in a front organization in whose name the party had made the purchases. The Information Minister has stated that as far as he was concerned the Bolivian government is against media belonging to individuals and political parties to serve their special interests. The case is expected to be investigated by the Congress.

Share

0