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.
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