09 May 2013
Speech by IAPA President Jaime Mantilla
Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to have come for the third time to this beautiful city of Puebla, Puebla of the Angels, World Heritage Site. And it is an even greater pleasure that this meeting coincides with the 19th anniversary of the Declaration of Chapultepec, adopted by governments, judges, courts and the citizens of all the countries of the Americas as a reference and guide for the defense of one of the principal human rights the right to freedom of expression. The first principle of this document states: No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people.
This principle gives birth to the other nine that were signed on March 11, 1994 in Chapultepec Castle, which became a symbol of the this great countrys battles for liberty.
Puebla has in addition great importance for the culture and newspapers of Latin America. At the initiative of UNESCO, with the sponsorship of several companies concerned about culture and with the collaboration of a number of newspapers of our Americas, at the start of the decade of the 90s the Periolibros project was developed. It was in this city of Puebla that we met to mount this initiative which without a doubt had an immense cultural impact in the Americas. More than 100 narrative fascicles of the best writers and the artwork of the outstanding artists of our Americas were published.
An important part of our visit, apart from the seminars and discussions that we are sharing, will be our going deeply into the immense cultural heritage of this preponderant region in the history of Mexico. Its history, its legends, its traditions will guide us in the adventure.
On this, the fifth occasion this century in which the IAPA holds its membership meeting in Mexico, we can state that with more than 70 years of ongoing battle for the defense and promotion of press freedom the organization remains firm, united, full of great changes but above all with the ability to look at the hemisphere with critical and unfettered eyes that enable us to inform the world of the great problems that freedom of expression, of the press and of information are suffering and the challenges that we must overcome in defense of that inalienable right, fundamental for the existence of democracy.
Five months have passed since we met in São Paulo, a time in which hard and intense work has been displayed both abroad and within our organization.
But I would like to begin my remarks by focusing on the host country and on the great problems being faced by Mexico to maintain its citizens free speech and defend the freedom of journalists and the press as a basic mechanism for sustaining democracy. Mexico is now, unfortunately, the nation in the Western Hemisphere with the biggest problems of violence against journalists.
Here we have worked for the safety of journalists and denounced every time one of ours has fallen. During the past year seven colleagues were felled by violence and another four were abducted and their whereabouts remain unknown. Just a few days ago, we had to lament the murder of one more colleague. These figures, which refer to human beings with first and last names, are not normal and should not exist. Violence and the lack of follow-up and punishment for these actions, besides the pain of the victims and their families, is the main factor that leads to self-censorship. This issue has for many years been a matter of the first order for the IAPA members.
Our organization is without a doubt the international press institution that has most intensely denounced impunity and called for a solution to these violent acts. The IAPA has left proof of its work through important documents such as the Declarations of Tijuana in 2002, Hermosillo in 2005, Nuevo Laredo in 2006, Mexico City in 2008, Durango in 2010 and, most recently, Puebla in 2011. These are Declarations that had among their demands and proposals the making of crimes against journalists federal offenses; protection and assistance for media and members of the press in situations of risk; the urgency of encouraging joint work and solidarity of media and journalists to confront violence; making such crimes not subject to statutes of limitations; the stiffening of penalties for those who commit such crimes, and the creation of special units to investigate murders, among other suggestions.
In 2004 we held a conference with the Supreme Court and we have carried out nearly 20 international missions to the country in the past 17 years. We have met in recent years with the last three constitutional presidents on eight occasions, asking them for their commitment in this battle and today we repeat this call to President Enrique Peña Nieto.
We applaud two developments of great relevance that occurred last year the constitutional amendment to make crimes against freedom of expression federal offenses and the enactment of the law for the protection of members of the press. We are confident that the effective and detailed putting into practice of these two measures will contribute to the intense fight against violence.
Mexico has been an example of our battle and the IAPA will continue to monitor the development of freedoms in this great nation of Juárez, Morelo, Hidalgo.
I will try to summarize in just a few words the actions that under my presidency we have carried out in this short period:
In December last year, in compliance with the commitment made at the São Paulo General Assembly the IAPA sent an international mission to Argentina, where it found serious obstacles threatening the unfettered practice of journalism. The delegation stayed in Buenos Aires for three days and met with nearly a hundred figures from various parts of society. Heard were complaints of discrediting campaigns originating in the government, discrimination in the distribution of official advertising, selective application of the media law, lack of respect by the Executive Branch for the Judicial Branch. We got to know and analyze the serious conflict between the government of Cristina Kirchner and the Grupo Clarín group, whose situation within the framework of the Argentine reality goes well beyond the companys financial interests; it has to do with the very existence of freedom of expression and of information in that country, as is being demonstrated these days on there being eliminated advertising by various companies in media that are not in agreement with the Cristina Kirchner government.
At the beginning of this year we also visited Bogotá, where with the support of the newspaper El Tiempo we took part in a very interesting ceremony chaired by Colombias President Juan Manuel Santos, in which more than 50 governors and mayors of differing political views signed the Declaration of Chapultepec. This initiative, a continuation of the one that was held in Venezuela, we hope will take place in the coming months and years also in the other countries of the Americas where the importance of freedom of expression, of the press and of information are understood to be a basis of democracy.
As a corollary to this important event the IAPA with the support of El Tiempo held a forum titled The State of Press Freedom in Latin America at the Universidad de los Andres university in Bogotá. It had an excellent turnout of professors and students. Very interesting dialogues between the universitys president, Pablo Navas, and speakers Omar Rincón, Esteban Restrepo Saldarriaga, Ricardo Ávila and Nora Sanín, among others, led to multiple interventions by those present. A special thanks to President Santos, Roberto Pombo and El Tiempo, which sponsored these successful and necessary activities.
Also in January, the IAPA took part in Paris in the half-yearly meeting of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, a body that has as its objective unification of criteria, evaluation of the state of press freedom and proposal of joint actions at a global level.
Some months earlier, we took part in a United Nations meeting in Austria that put under way a world action plan to ensure the safety of journalists and reduce impunity.
I would now like to refer to the situation in the OAS and the dangers the Office of Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression is facing.
For March 22 this year there is scheduled an extraordinary meeting of the OAS to finalize the process of reforms of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At that meeting study will be given to the proposal regarding the so-called process of strengthening the inter-American human rights system initiated in 2012 by the OAS and headed by Venezuela and Ecuador, whose governments have the intention of weakening and removing the autonomy of that agency, especially its Office of Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, over its annual reports which mainly, and not only in these countries, have annoyed those in power. Our eyes and actions will, as always, be directed at offering our support to the Office of Rapporteur.
To reinforce the position of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas), Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño brought together more than 20 of his colleagues in the Americas on March 8 in Guayaquil
(The death of Chávez could change the program)
We feel that the only way of saving the inter-American system from the deep cut of attributions which it has in favor of freedom, is through a wide dissemination of the problems in member newspapers in an immediate wide campaign to keep the Office of Rapporteur and the Commission on Human Rights without any cuts or limitations of its procedures.
Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador have been permanently under the watchful eye of the IAPA during three months, over the series of problems that the battle for freedoms that the press has faced in those countries. We have already talked about Argentina. In Ecuador, the permanent attitude of the president against the independent press, the use of the governmental press as a tool to attack those who do not think as the president does, the electoral campaign in which preference was given to the advertising and promotion of the president-candidate to the detriment of other candidates have created a pessimistic environment for the free practice of journalism. Despite the legal and constitutional mandate that requires the government and entities that receive funds from the state to make their relationships transparent, this requirement is not only not complied with but it is completely ignored, to the point that the president prohibited his ministers and top public officials from speaking to the independent press. At the same time, the campaign in which President Correa emerged the victor had numerous irregularities which strengthened the governments hand. Finally, Correa obtained 57% of the vote and 42% of the electoral roll, as void and blank votes, which totaled 8%, were not counted, nor were the absentee ballots on which there are no final figures.
The IAPA, as always, seeking dialogue and agreement requested a meeting with the re-elected president in order to talk about the future of freedom of expression in Ecuador. As of the time that this report was being prepared we have received no response to our proposal, which confirms the presidents aversion to dialogue and debate, vital bases for the maintenance of freedom of expression, of the press and of information. In short statements to governmental media and foreign journalists he has insisted on his vision to silence dissident voices and the media that deliver their analyses and opinions without adjusting to the governments views. More details of what is happening in this country you will have found in the report that the vice chairman for Ecuador of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information has presented at this meeting.
There cannot be ignored in this report Cuba, where there continues to be a lack of respect for the right to individual freedom, to freedom of the press and to freedom of expression, and there continue to be acts of repression of independent journalists and opponents that in 2012 were reflected in more than 1,800 brief detentions, according to figures of the Cuban Human Rights and National Conciliation Commission. This Presidency decided to seek a person who living in that environment could represent us and give us his or her view of what is happening in Cuba. We contacted Yoani Sánchez and in short conversations she agreed to be our regional vice chair. We welcome her.
The Cuban Human Rights Commission also reported that in January this year there were at least 364 arbitrary arrests for political reasons and in February 504, an increase of acts of condemnation of opponents, loutish actions against the homes of dissidents and disturbing physical attacks by unidentified individuals wearing civilian clothes, all of that under a real cloak of impunity, an issue on which we were given a detailed and emotional account by the regional vice chair for Cuba who is with us today.
I think it is necessary for me to briefly refer to some internal matters. Our organization, ladies and gentlemen delegates, is maintaining a great presence in all the things related to freedoms and to free speech, especially, not only in the Western Hemisphere but around the world. We have had to make some adjustments in order to continue with the financial support that these functions require and I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart all those newspapers that have responded positively to our campaign on donation of advertising space in benefit of the IAPA. The number of pages raised up to last month which will be marketed to the benefit of the organization is more than what was expected and we think that this year we will cover expenses, with a strong promotional campaign, obtaining, thanks to it, a million dollars in income.
Taking advantage of this meeting, we have the pleasure of putting in your hands a new publication of our organization, a major effort by our executive director, Julio Muñoz, who was very insistent on moving ahead on it. The book on The 70 Years of the IAPA: Guest Speakers, which features 64 keynote addresses by prominent speakers that have taken part in our membership meetings during that period. In its 296 pages are statesmen, Nobel Prize winners, authors, academics, businessmen, historians and diplomats. Included among the earliest politicians are Alberto Lleras Camargo, former president of Colombia and founder of the OAS; President John F. Kennedy in his last public speech before being assassinated in Dallas in 1963; Henry Kissinger, and Felipe González. We are sure that this IAPA contribution will be enormously significant in our Americas.
The IAPA management has been developing the project to modify and give much more value to the system of connecting to members through social networks. At this meeting there has been the presentation of the first result so that members can participate more actively in the organization. Seminars, library, dialogues, consultations, archives and other uniting mechanisms are now ready to be fully shared through the technology. This situation in addition enables us to share our knowledge, our history, with young students, professors and members of the public in general. The IAPA will be able to show the world its work during 70 years in defense of freedoms.
The internal work has been arduous in all the committees. Claudio Paolillo, has given a very special tone and push to the important Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and has brought to the table one of the criticisms that was most heard, which was our disconnection from journalists. I am sure that no one can now say that. And in other committees the work of María Elvira Domínguez in the Strategic Development Committee has been complex but fruitful and helps us to look to tomorrow with a much better perspective. As María Elvira reported, the Strategic Development Committee is possibly the committee that has come up with the greatest number of meetings, reflections and proposals to fully go into the structural reform of our organization and put it in line with the demands of this time.
I cannot fail to mention the role of Ed Seaton in the International Affairs Committee, of Jorge Canahuati in Chapultepec, Miguel Henrique Otero in Fundraising, Asdrúbal Aguiar in Legal Affairs, Francisco Miró Quesada in Awards. All of them have headed their committees with responsibility and constant work.
It is necessary for the other committee leaders, their vice chairmen and members to be involved more deeply in carrying out the obligations that they accepted.
The IAPA management, headed by Julio Muñoz, has been an important mainstay for continuing to move ahead in these times of turbulence. Julio and his team, despite the absence of Ricardo Trotti and some staff reductions, have managed to optimize their work in a very positive way.
I have tried to positively confront the decrease in support in the United States and Canada. Several options have been suggested to create services and interesting contacts for the American members that enable them to use the IAPA offers to understand and project themselves in Latin America. I think that the American press, the people of that great country, should in a short time learn to look with closer attention and passion at what is happening south of their border. The IAPA can be the appropriate mechanism for this educational process. We are gathering opinions in order to be able to guide this mission in the best possible way.
With a similar although different vision we believe that our efforts ought to be oriented towards the members in Brazil. The IAPA should involve and much more solidly those media that possibly represent the greatest amount of dissemination of freedoms in our hemisphere. Brazil, the United States, Canada are the primordial objectives for the development and strengthening of the IAPA in the Western Hemisphere.
President of Mexico, ladies and gentlemen delegates: Puebla has welcomed us with great friendship and delicacy. My thanks to the Host Committee, chaired by Armando Prida, and all the Mexican colleagues that have suffered what it means to defend democracys basic freedoms. The work of the IAPA will continue as the vital pillar for that defense. For that we count on the support of all of you.
Mr. President of Mexico, we wish you the best of success, allowing and supporting the freedoms of the people, which regrettably in some other countries in our Americas those who have received the decisive mandate of the people seek to infringe. Freedom, Mr. President, dear colleagues, is conquered and defended with the dedication and devotion of the citizens, but for this what is required is a free, plural and independent press. That is what we defend.
Thank you very much.
