WHEREAS the political situation has been worsening by leaps and bounds since the elections in late 2015, endangering essential democratic values such as the division of powers, autonomy of the Legislative Branch, independence of the justice system or the exercise of basic civil rights, such as freedom of expression, the right to dissent or the right to petition the authorities, among many others
WHEREAS in recent days this process has reached an unusual level of seriousness with the ruling of the Supreme Court to take on functions that constitutionally correspond to the National Assembly, to not recognize the parliamentary immunity of the members of Congress that make up said body, and put President Nicolás Maduro in charge of the task of governing by decree, through a restriction of rights
WHEREAS in this new chapter in the institutional deterioration it has received the strong condemnation of various countries of the world that have described the said episode as a clear breakage of institutional order and have regarded it as an "autogolpe" (self coup) of the state by the Maduro government
WHEREAS this alteration of the division of powers that characterizes democratic order has direct impact on the exercise of freedom of expression, as it not only deepens government advance on political opposition – on permitting the imprisonment of members of the National Assembly – but it extends this threat to any criticism or opinion that bothers the Executive Branch, from wherever it may come
WHEREAS the criminalization of social protest and of the exercise of free speech are accumulating ominous statistics, with a marked increase in the number of political prisoners, journalists detained without due process and daily acts of violence against news media workers
WHEREAS while following the ruling of the Supreme Court, and due to the strong international condemnations, the Maduro government found itself forced to request rectification of the measure, the precedent amounting to a clear demonstration of the rigid political control exercised by the Executive Branch over the Judicial Branch, and the intention of both to annul any kind of auditing or participation of the Legislature, which violates not only the division of powers but also the minimum guarantees for the people in a State of Law, in addition to violating the principles of the Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States
WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec 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"
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
to express its condemnation of the ruling of the Supreme Court, taken at the request of the Executive Branch, to take over the functions and immunities of the National Assembly
to urge the countries of the hemisphere to express themselves in a firm and forceful manner against this and any other intention to aggravate the institutional situation and to continue endangering the exercise of freedoms and political, civil and social rights
to urgently and particularly monitor the increase in the deterioration of the conditions for work as a journalist and the exercise of freedom of expression, and invite other world organizations to work on joint strategies to defend the work of the press in this context
to invite all journalists and news media of the Americas, and in particular the members of the Inter-American Press Association, to carry out an attentive coverage of the weakening of the democratic regime in the country, so that the citizens of the continent can clearly be aware of the situation
to urge international organizations, of both a multi-state nature and as of civil society, to give the necessary responses and activate the pertinent mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing the functioning of democratic institutions, respect for political rights and the full application of civil liberties, in particular the right to free speech.
