Report to the 70th General Assembly
Santiago, Chile
October 17 – 21, 2014
With the new administration of President Juan Carlos Varela taking office in July, hostilities on the part of some of the authorities towards the free exercise of journalism have ceased.
Noteworthy is also the public commitment to comply with the legal provisions regarding access to public information and unrestricted support to privacy of communications between citizens.
During the election process, however, dirty campaigns – reported by the Catholic Church and the Comisión de Justicia y Paz (Justice and Peace Commission) – were increased.
Moreover, the biasedness and arbitrariness in the distribution of government propaganda hiked to levels beyond the assignment volume prohibitions permitted by the Electoral Code. Such abuses have resulted in several claims being filed before the Electoral Court.
Due to multiple accusations disseminated by the media, investigations were launched regarding the unlawful use of public funds to favor candidates close to the ruling party.
The Electoral Court did not authorize the credentials for eleven candidates to the national lower chamber and mayors, who were accused.
During the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) sessions held July 25th, Ecuadorian assembly member Octavio Villacreces presented a Framework Bill on Communications before the Parlatino's Political Affairs Committee, seeking to design a Communications Act "regarding the right to free access to communications". This proposal imposes obligations affecting the way in which the media are to present their contents. The bill was vigorously rejected by the Panamanian press in view of the violations to the press freedom it intends to create.
Two years after the filing of an accusation against the former Security Council executive secretary, Alejandro Garuz, for having prevented Filemón Medina, secretary general of the Journalists Union, from filming with his cell phone an incident where the free exercise of journalism on the part of two TVN TV channel journalists was being prevented, the District Attorney raised charges against Garuz – after examining him - on grounds of personal injuries. The trial continues.
Investigations by the Office of the Attorney General relating to the claim filed by the Electoral Attorney General, Eduardo Peñaloza, against the newspapers La Prensa and Mi Diario, for having denounced his inefficiency in the electoral process, are still pending.
This last September, following media accusations of nepotism in the new administration and an exchange on the social media with journalist Álvaro Alvarado, the First Lady, Lorena Castillo de Varela, issued a statement asking journalist associations to "take measures" to the media that "do not speak the truth".
