ARGENTINA II

ARGENTINA II WHEREAS in the province of Santiago del Estero what began as a series of attacks against the daily El Liberal became harassment by those who govern that province which is continuing and is seriously threatening the newspaper WHEREAS this harassment consists of the closing of government information sources to journalists of the newspaper; suspension of government advertising clearly for discriminatory reasons; the filing of a series of complaints that the newspaper considers a form of pressure to silence the government’s critics or even cause their closure while there are serious questions about the courts’ lack of independence from the government WHEREAS after messages sent by the Inter American Press Association and the visit by a mission headed by its president last November the virulence of this harassment has not abated WHEREAS Principle 3 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes governments’ duty to provide information generated by the public sector in a timely and fair way WHEREAS Principle 6 of the declaration says no medium or journalist should be rewarded or punished for an editorial line Principle 7 of the declaration rejects the use of government advertising or any other economic measure to affect press freedom THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to contact Carlos Juárez, governor of Santiago del Estero, President Fernando de la Rúa, the Supreme Court, the Congress and the Organization of American States to express once more the serious concern this situation causes in the press of the hemisphere, to reiterate the request that these matters be solved and request a prompt normalization of the conditions for exercise of press freedom in that province to contact the local judiciary again to urge it to grant the guarantees established by the national constitution and protect freedom of information.