S.O.S for Latin press

By: Mark Fitzgerald OAS: Authoritarian impulses sabotaging journalists

Latin America is sabotaging its transition to democratic liberty because it threatens the free press with a mixture of bad laws, weak judicial systems, and unpunished violence, says the Organization of American States' (OAS) first-ever special report on freedom of expression.
With more than 150 journalists assassinated in the last decade because of their work, Latin America is an extraordinarily violent region for the press. But OAS rapporteur Dr. Santiago Alejandro Canton, an Argentine lawyer, says the new democracies of Latin America do almost as much damage to the free press by borrowing the laws and traditions of the region's overthrown strongmen.
"Undoubtedly in the last decades, freedom of expression has increased because of the democratic opening. However, this development has not impeded the continuing authoritarian impulses in various countries, which continue to seek mechanisms that limit the right to free expression of citizens of the Americas," Canton says in his first report to the OAS.
Latin America can ill-afford to hamper the press because in many nations it is the only institution acting as a check on official or criminal abuse, Canton says.
"Today in various Latin American democracies there is a weakness in public institutions charged with controlling authorities and citizens," he writes.
"For instance, in many cases, the judicial system is inefficient when it tries to effectively investigate actions that come to its attention or to sanction those responsible; corruption and narcotics trafficking, in numerous cases, has eroded public institutions. In these nations, it is the press that has been transformed into the principal instrument of control over authorities and citizens, bringing to public debate wrongdoing or abuses that either evade government controls - or that are allied with government in corruption. ... The press in many cases is transformed into the most effective instrument for societal control and a restraint on those illegal acts or abuses by authorities or private persons." Canton adds: "This has occasioned many and varied dangers against the press."
Canton's report notes that numerous democratic nations - including the long-time democracy in Costa Rica - have adopted so-called "disrespect" or "insult" laws that impose jail terms and substantial fines for criticism of national leaders. In addition, many nations continue to regulate who can practice journalism by requiring membership in colegios, government-licensed associations or schools.
"A system of control over free expression in the name of supposedly guaranteeing that corrections or truthful information reach society can be a source of great abuse and, at bottom, violates the right to information of that society," Canton writes.
The Interamerican Commission on Human Rights has explicitly ruled that the practice violates the charter OAS member nations pledge to follow. Yet the OAS found mandatory colegio membership persists in Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Panama, and Venezuela.
Canton is especially critical of two nations: Panama, where he says the legal structure "seriously limits freedom of expression," and Chile, where numerous "national security" laws criminalize criticism of a wide range of high authorities.
These laws are not just gathering dust on the shelf, Canton says. He alleges at one point in the report that he has seen documentation of a plot by Peru's State Intelligence Service to harass a large group of prominent journalists, who had written about the agency's alleged abuses, by framing them on charges of crimes against the government or army.
"Several of the journalists who figure in this document have been threatened with death on several occasions and one of them, Jose Arieta Matos, had to flee the country. This document indicates the intention of several sectors of the Peruvian government to silence those journalists who have expressed critical views of authorities," Canton wrote.
Canton, who was appointed to the new position last November, says he wants to form "a hemispheric network for the protection of freedom of expression, composed of different non-government organizations, media organizations, and journalists in a way that facilitates communications between network members about possible violations of freedom of expression that occur in OAS member states."

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