Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS Despite many positive changes in the democratic currents that have swept over the nations of the Americas in recent years, threats to freedom of the press continue in the forms of intimidation, court challenges and, tragically, murder. The 52nd General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association noted with cautious optimism sorne of the positive changes in the hemisphere. Yet, the central theme of the assembly, as noted by President David Lawrence, was the landmark project entitled Unpunished Crimes Against Journalists. In the last seven years, more than 160 journalists have been murdered in the Americas. The IAPA's study focused on six of these in Guatemala, Colombia and Mexico. The report, a searing document that shocks the sensibilities, powerfully reaffirms that where there are threats, intimidation and murder against those who report and publish news, no one is reaIly free. Danilo Arbilla, president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, has noted that while journalists all over the world are at risk, the distinguishing factor in Latin America is that virtuaIly all of these crimes go unsolved and the guilty unpunished. President Lawrence's description of the unpunished crimes is appropriate. It is, he said, a scandal. And the fact that journalists have and continue to be an obvious target of those who would stifle the freedom of the press only brings into focus more clearly the relevance of the historic work of the IAPA. Throughout the Americas, threats to free expression continue. In Venezuela, licensing of journalists is required under a press law. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on a plea by the Venezuelan Press Bloc for the law to be repealed. A similar bill is pending in Nicaragua. In Chile the threat is also real. Pressure by paramilitary groups, police and government officials is a continuing threat to journalists in Haiti. In Mexico, the 1995 disappearance of Cuahutémoc Ornelas, editor ofthe magazine Alcance, remains a mystery and the murders of several journalists in previous years remain in impunity. AIso, in Mexico the fiscal intimidation, kidnappings, law suits and physical attacks against journalists remain. In Argentina, journalists continue to be subjected to threats and intimidation, with 75 assaults on journalists being reported in the last two years, but there have been no arrests. Two more journalists were killed in April in Guatemala. In Cuba, after 37 years of totalitarian rule, the simple act of reporting a story is still a crime and the newspapers are a dependency of the Communist Party. And the members of five tiny but brave independent news agencies are deported, persecuted, harassed and thrown in jail by an all mighty state. It is worth noting that in Colombia, a country which has led aIl of the Americas in murdered journalists in recent years, no journalists have been killed in the last year, even if the practice of journalism is still dangerous. Brazilian newspaper membership in IAPA continues to grow rapidly. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed the Declaration of Chapultepec in August. And the IAPA will begin a major five-year project to use the Declaration of Chapultepec to promote freedom of expression and of the press in the Americas. A part of the project will involve a comparative study of laws in the Americas. Threats and challenges remain as our planet rushes toward the new millennium. IAPA remains committed to ensuring that freedom of expression and of the press exist in all the countries of the Americas, aIlowing people to live in freedom and digniity.