Latin American press faces threats

By Danilo Arbilla

UNITED NATIONS: More than 200 journalists were killed on the Latin American continent in the last decade, and five in the last three months alone of 1999.

These murders feature as the headlines of any reports on press freedom in the hemisphere. They have their impact, but are not necessarily indicative of the reality.

Those writing on the region do not point out, for example, that 90 percent of these assassinations take place in just three countries, with Colombia -- where drugdealers, guerrilla fighters, paramilitary soldiers and the national army are locked in conflict -- at the head.

The sensationalism of these figures blurs the picture and confuses issues, as it also detracts from much deeper, more serious and troubling issues regarding freedom of the press in Latin America.

More importantly, almost 100 percent of these crimes are unresolved and their perpetuators remain free. An almost total immunity exists for these criminals, with the notable exception of the murderers of the Argentinean photographer Jose Luis Cabezas, where it took a nation's indignation and constant pressure from the press to bring his murderers to justice.

This immunity, this failure to bring murderers to trial, represents a fundamental flaw and a deterioration in human rights which affect all of society and take a heavy toll on freedom of expression and every citizen's right to information.

When governments are overthrown, when dictatorships set up base, when democracies begin to flounder, institutions no longer work, or when corruption sets in, freedom of expression is always the first to be hit.

And press freedom is not only the first victim: it is also the scapegoat as it rapidly becomes the cause of all society's evil. This is the current state of affairs for much of Latin America.

Two decades ago Latin American countries began to shake off their military dictatorships and -- with the exception of Cuba -- reinstate democracy.

But this new democracy did not take root in all countries of the subcontinent, and in many of these countries to talk even now of democracy is to resort to hypocrisy.

Of course we cannot talk of democracy if the government is not elected by its people, but it is not enough to say that a democracy is working just because people can vote at regular intervals.

Economic problems, demagogic politics, poor governance and bad management of political parties had done little to advance democracy. Press freedom brought these and other related problems, such as a corrupt judiciary, to light.

Several countries degenerated even further and strong potential leaders, with enormous popular backing, appeared on the scene. These men paid no heed to basic democratic rights, and the judicial system was either dependent on or swallowed up by the central power, whilst parliament was browbeaten into complying.

Such was the case, with some slight differences, of Peru and Venezuela.

Press freedom is under threat in these two countries. Peru's President Alberto Fujimori uses a tame legal system to justify attacks on the press, such as depriving a former television channel owner of his citizenship so that the channel is handed over to minor shareholders, or threatening journalists and independent media.

In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez threatens and insults the independent press, owns radio and television programs and has even created his own presidential daily with financial backing from the state which he runs.

Together with his chancellor, Jose Vicente Rangel, an old enemy and abuser of true press freedom, he has inserted a new clause into the Constitution which introduces the doctrine of "the right to impartial, true and timely information". Both Chavez and Rangel said that they were against this clause, to keep up appearances so that a Constitution in line with Presidential policy is held up as a Constitutional document.

In other countries the press is the direct victim of central government, which -- through its administrative system or other mechanisms -- either awards or discriminates against the media according to their editorial information policy.

The handling of official bank loans and discrimination in the allocation of state advertising are the most widespread means of control, as we can see in Uruguay and Puerto Rico, to cite two of the most notorious cases.

Bills for a press law to be approved by parliament (as in Brazil) or the existence of restrictive press laws in several countries (Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela) constitute a permanent and growing threat.

But in recent years the worst threat is posed -- not by executive powers or parliaments -- but by judicial power and judges. Wherever the legal system is not independent or is subject to the powers that be, there is no guarantee of freedom, as we have seen.

This holds true for judges from Canada to Argentina, for any of those judges who place themselves above popular law and do not control those same citizens who pay them and in whose name they are to execute justice.

Judges who prop up laws, generic cases and basic essentials in a kind of anti press freedom jurisprudence have become the major threat against the press.

Journalists confront "laws of disrespect or insult towards the living", and may only denounce dictatorships or condemn the murder of journalists provided that there are substantial claims.

To go against approved laws by democratic motions and identify governments' means of discrimination is no easy matter. These attacks are more and more underhand, more and more subtle, more and more effective and more and more damaging, such as the closure of a newspaper or the imprisonment of a journalist.

Similar obstacles to the defense of press freedom are to be found in initiatives that are dressed up as positive breakthroughs, such as "autoregulation", "coregulation", ethical codes.

But much more problematic and less credible is the building up of judges and of the justice system as the guarantee and ultimate bastion of human rights. This today is one of the main problems for press freedom on the Latin American continent.

The writer is editor of the weekly news magazine Busqueda in Uruguay and First Vice President of the Inter-American Press Association.