Speech by Alejandro J. Aguirre, President Inter American Press Association
Speech by Alejandro J. Aguirre, President
Inter American Press Association
66th General Assembly, Merida, Yucutan, Mexico
Mr. President of the United Mexican States, Your Honor Felipe Calderón;
Madam Governor of the State of Yucatán, Ivonne Ortega Pacheco;
Madam Mayor of the Municipality of Merida, Angelica Araujo;
Honorable Members of the Board of Directors, Executive Committee and Advisory Council of the Inter American Press Association;
Distinguished delegates;
Distinguished representatives of the Mexican government;
Ladies and gentlemen;
And above all: my friends
It is a great honor to present this report as President of the Inter American Press Association in a country and a city that are so deeply connected to our organization.
The history of this organization began in 1926, when about 130 journalists gathered in Washington to approve the establishment of an Inter-American Organization of Journalists, in what was called the First Pan American Congress.
But this grand idea was delayed by the world wars, and it was not until 1942 that Congress met in Mexico City to create the permanent commission that would became the Inter American Press Association. Therefore, our official place of birth is this country, and the year, 1942.
Merida, in the sameway, is a city that has always welcomed us with open arms. When we learned of the need to change the venue of this Assembly because of the earthquake in Chile, Mérida immediately stepped up, and today, in this extraordinary setting, we give thanks to Mexico, and to all our gracious hosts.
To the Gamboa Garcia family, here with us tonight, I thank you for offering to organize the Assembly in such short time.
Madam Governor, I thank you for the great reception you have given us you have truly validated this states well-deserved reputation for extending the nobility and warmth of its people to all who visit here.
Madam Mayor, thank you for giving us the immense pleasure of enjoying the spirit, the music of the White City, at the Vaqueria Festival..
To TV Azteca, our hosts tonight, thank you very much.
Mexico has been in the heart of the IAPA since the beginning and throughout our long course.
To you, Mr. President, I thank you for being here with us.
Unfortunately, when I was in Argentina, to assume the presidency of the IAPA, the President was not present at the time. Therefore, I thank you very especially for allowing me to end my presidency in your illustrious presence.
Thank you very much.
There were huge battles fought here; you succeeded in guaranteeing that newsprint from PIPSA is distributed equally to all. Great presidents of the Inter American Press Association were born here each, in turn, world figures in the world of journalism men such as Romulo O'Farrill, Miguel Lanz Duret, Don Andres Garcia Lavin, his son Don Andrés García Gamboa and Don Alejandro Junco de la Vega.
They leave lasting memories, but they also did much to strengthen the principle of freedom of expression through their contribution to the fight, a fight that remains the primary mission of the SIP.
But today, along with mentioning the great figures and achievements of this country, they are obscured by the climate of violence. There is no other country in the hemisphere where the IAPA has invested more energy, missions and petitions than in Mexico.
Our statistics are chilling. Since 1987, 106 Mexican journalists have been murdered -- and this year alone the total is eleven.
A few weeks ago, President Felipe Calderón met with us at Los Pinos. Your message was clear and energetic, Mr President. You told us that the issue of press freedom would be placed on the national public agenda; that efforts would be redoubled to ensure the safety of journalists, and the push for legal reform that will make crimes against journalists a Federal offense renewed. You also announced that a centralized system for the protection of journalists would be put into operation.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
We have no doubt that your intentions are genuine and that the fight to combat this scourge, as you wish, shall happen. We understand the magnitude of your problem, a society that suffers the disease of violence is not free; a town where security is threatened is a slave to the murderers.
A country where self-censorship increases like a snowball rolling down a mountain has no press freedom. You cannot work with fear and self-censorship, and not publish
and survive. You cannot allow criminal organizations to control information and define what is news and what is not.
For this reason, Mr. President, with all due respect, we again insist that this issue be raised during supra-national meetings with other presidents in the hemisphere or region.
This situation does not belong to Mexico alone; it is a cancer that spreads, spreads its cloak of grief and violence to many other corners of the world. We know this.
We believe, Mr President, that it takes the union of all media, of all political parties, of all journalists to face this evil together.
I want to make clear that we do not seek to place blame; we do not believe that would be productive or even easy to do. But we do insist that all state resources, within and outside of this great nation, be used to seek and achieve the just solutions that can save our civil society.
For our part, we are ready with our support and our work. We have been in Mexico constantly for forums with editors and journalists, giving seminars on safety and violence. This is a central issue on our agenda and we will monitor all developments to end this evil that terrorizes everyone.
I will now, with your permission, refer to the situations of other countries in the continent that also face censorship, threats and exaggerated regulation by their leaders.
Cuba remains a blotch on the map of America, and it has not yet awakened to the reality of the world. It is a country where no one knows the concept of press freedom. There is no news, only propaganda; its citizens are unaware of the events taking place in the world.
A few days ago, Mario Vargas Llosa was deservedly awarded the Nobel Prize of Literature. The news that circulated in Cuba and around the world was what I just said. However, in Cuba it was said he had won the Nobel for anti-ethics, This is a sad and pathetic case, for sure.
A few months ago, our sister institution, the International Press Institute, recognized the blogger Yoani Sanchez with a global award. But she was unable to receive the prize. The no reason policy would not give her permission to leave the island.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I believe that to speak of a dictatorship that has existed over half a century is actually one of the largest shames on humanity. It should not be tolerated. Half a century of dictatorship. Enough is enough.
The months of this year that the IAPA honored me with the presidency passed much faster than I expected. And reaching the end of the road, the list is long. But as much as the IAPA does everywhere peoples rights are not respected, there is still much more to do.
During the year we sent international delegations to investigate cases of violations in Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras, Uruguay and Brazil, among others. We met with President Lobo of Honduras, who signed our Declaration of Chapultepec, while affirming his conviction that freedom is a fundamental principle of human beings.
We went to Peru, where President Alan Garcia assured us he would maintain his respect for press freedom and media ownership under siege..
Our core programs, Chapultepec and Impunity, have traveled throughout the Americas with activities of all kinds.
We held Chapultepec Forums in Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, and we also worked, under the Chapultepec umbrella, with the University of Florida in Gainesville and in Montevideo, Uruguay.
We have been attentive to the most serious problems the continent has experienced. In Argentina, for example, we denounced President Kirchner for sending a bill to Congress to declare the distribution and sale of newsprint a matter of public interest.
These supplies, as stipulated in the Declaration of Chapultepec, should never be administered according to political interests that is, to reward or punish media. This simply cannot be.
We made a large number of requests to several governments and international institutions in defense of Dr. Guillermo Zuloaga, and Nelson Mezerhane, two owners of Globovision, Venezuela.
Dr. Zuloaga is a brave journalist. He is also the winner of the IAPA Press Freedom Award -- a symbol of the defense of these principles throughout the world. He was arrested and imprisoned, on instructions from the Government, for the alleged crime of spreading false information.
During our Mid-year meeting in March last year in Aruba, the entire audience of the Inter American Press Association witnessed propagandists and officials of President Hugo Chávez Frías government moved in -- to attack and try to discredit us.
Such was our tolerance that we allowed them to use the microphone, which they used to attack Dr. Zuloaga, Venezuelan journalists and other IAPA members. They could say anything they wanted, but when it came time to respond, according to the Government, false information was being spread. This is something worthy of Ripleys Believe It or Not, and yet its for real.
Elsewhere, Ecuadors government has an active and very aggressive attitude against freedom of press
yet another sad case.
We call on governments to respect the freedom of their people and, with the same respect, please -- not only be Democrats in their own countries, but also seek to strengthen their relations with other countries for the good of citizens and for the sake of the right to freedom of expression.
Elections do little if democratic institutions are weak and people are robbed of their freedoms more and more every day. That cannot be the fate of the Americas.
Our belief in freedom of the press led missions and issued hundreds of press releases
playing a key role as a guardian of liberty. Each of the regional vice presidents, under the firm leadership of Mr Robert Rivard, San Antonio, met their duties fully..
In the international arena we have been present in forums of all types and leadership meetings of the Global Committee of Press Freedom Organizations. Thanks to the active work of our International Affairs Committee, headed by Mr. Jorge Canahuati, we also held a very important conference on new technologies, challenges and the opportunities provided, in Lima, Peru, under the leadership of our Vice President Francisco Miró Quezada Rada. And I cannot fail to mention the tremendous work of Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, in charge of the Impunity Committee.
Juan Francisco not only organized every activity we did in Mexico, but also accompanied us wherever we needed to go. I thank him sincerely for his work, for his cooperation, which is highly appreciated and sets a great example for those who want to defend press freedom in the Americas.
For lack of time I dont have the opportunity to highlight all the valuable work done by our officers and members, but before you, Mr. President, I want to thank them for their help. Without that support the best ideas and best intentions remain unrealized.
Thank you all.
On a personal level, I would like to thank all those who have supported My family, my wife, my children and my father who, unfortunately, could not be with us here.
Those who know my father know that whether you agree with him or not on the issues, you were in the presence of a man who truly loves this organization, one who believes, from the depth of his being, the conviction that from within this room come the best soldiers to defend democracy in our hemisphere. I share that view.
He was also on the front line of the IAPA not many years ago. I want to thank him for the learning and advice he always gave me while he was in this high office, which it is now my honor to represent.
I also want to thank all the people who work at the Diario Las Americas in Miami, for their work keeping an important part of my hometown, Miami, informed, and for letting me be here with you, representing the paper.
And the last word is for journalists. Among the great privileges of being President of the Inter American Press Association, is to have known men and women who leave home every day to locate, write and transmit the information we need.
They are all similar to us from the point of view that they are parents, children, grandparents, uncles or friends of many that I have met, but they go off to do their work -- at times under great risk and knowing full well that they are at high risk because of their jobs.
But they keep going, many times fearful of the danger that surrounds them, but convinced of the need to move forward. They are the true heroes, the soldiers who give so much and sometimes give everything for the people's right to know.
To them, from this rostrum, I thank you very much, and thank you all for listening to these words.
