Argentina I

WHEREAS in recent weeks Argentina has seen episodes of great institutional seriousness that had the purpose of silencing critical voices and punishing those citizens, journalists, media, and organizations who express opinions different from those promoted by the government WHEREAS many agencies of control are being used for this purpose, as in the cases of the Agency for Tax Collection (AFIP), the National Securities Commission, the General Inspector’s Office, and the Federal Authority on Audiovisual Communication Service, among others WHEREAS there have been extreme cases such as that of an association of consumer rights that lost its legal status after releasing a report on inflation, consultants who were judicially cited for submitting reports on the same topic, and producers were have been inspected by tax authorities after participating in popular protests WHEREAS in this same sense the Argentine president made public the tax situation of a real estate agent who gave his opinion in the press about the economic slowdown. THE 68th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES: To urge the Argentine government to guarantee an atmosphere of sane respect to freedom of expression, regardless of the political or ideologicalidentification of those who wish to express themselves To solicit the highest authorities of this country to cease their actions to decharacterize the proper functions of control agencies, limiting their actions in accordance with their institutional objectives, and putting an end to persecution and fear-mongeringtoward those persons, media, and organizations who manifest or publish opinions critical of the present governmental administration