ARGENTINA III

57th General Assembly Washington, DC October 12 – 16, 2001 ARGENTINA III WHEREAS it has been demonstrated that there is a long-running confrontation in Santiago del Estero province between Governor Carlos Juárez and the newspaper El Liberal, which grew to the point that justified the sending of an IAPA mission headed by the association’s president, Danilo Arbilla WHEREAS this long dispute has been marked by numerous facts: attacks, telephone tapping, intimidation and the closure of official sources for the newspaper’s reporters; the withdrawal of all government advertising which is granted to other media outlets with smaller circulation which shows a clearly discriminatory attitude; the refusal to pay for advertising bought earlier; a series of lawsuits filed by sympathizers of the ruling party that the newspaper considers a form of pressure to silence its criticism, or even force it to close WHEREAS in these court cases there have been serious irregularities adversely affecting the principle of due process WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” WHEREAS Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states “Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press” WHEREAS Principle 10 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states “No news medium nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government” THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to notify Carlos Juárez, the governor of Santiago del Estero province of the serious concern that this situation is causing in the press of the hemisphere and to reiterate the IAPA mission’s request to calm the situation and hold a dialogue to end this conflict to urge the local court to comply with the requirements of the federal court and guarantee due process in these cases.