MIAMI, Florida (May 11, 2007)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA)
today assailed a decision by Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to invoke
an insult law in suing the editor of a local newspaper over an editorial criticizing
his administration.
President Correa on May 10 filed suit in the Pichincha District Attorney’s
Office in which he called for Francisco Vivanco Riofrío, chairman of the
editorial board of the daily newspaper La Hora, to be sent to prison, citing Article
230 of the Penal Code which makes insulting the president of Ecuador a criminal
offense punishable by six months’ to two years’ imprisonment and a
fine equivalent to $16 to $77.
Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom
of the Press and Information, declared that it was “a clumsy step on the
part of the Ecuadorean president to file a criminal charge against a news outlet,
accusing it of contempt, an archaic concept in a modern democracy and outmoded
in Latin America and which should be eliminated from penal codes, as the IAPA
has been insisting.”
Marroquín recalled that at a meeting the IAPA held in El Salvador earlier
this week the organization had called for repeal of the insult law, arguing
that “preferential treatment of public officials is contrary to the equal
treatment of all citizens and goes against the principle of public scrutiny
of government actions in a democracy.”
The IAPA, as other organizations dedicated to freedom of the press in the world,
has been advocating repeal of all insult laws. The concept of making contempt
a criminal offense has now been removed from the penal codes of Argentina, Guatemala,
Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. In Chile it has been partially
repealed. The only country to have given force to it is Venezuela, which did
so in a reform of its Penal Code in February 2005, giving the president and
other senior officials in that country privileged and preferential treatment
over and above that of other citizens.
Correa’s lawsuit was a reaction to a March 9 editorial in La Hora titled
“Vandalismo oficial” (Official Vandalism). The editorial criticized
the government’s policy on acts of violence occurring at that time and
commented that “this policy, which certainly emanates from the Presidential
Office and seeks to govern with disturbances, rocks and sticks, is shameful
for a head of state who prides himself on being a civilized man respectful of
the opinions of others.”
In filing the suit in representation of President Correa presidential legal
counsel Alexis Mera threatened other news media, warning that the Presidential
Office would take legal action against anyone publishing “unsubstantiated
and libelous” reports. “We are prepared to take such action against
any news outlet,” he declared.
Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa
Libre, called the official’s words “even more alarming than the
lawsuit itself” as “they contain a threat to all news media, seeking
to bring about self-censorship, which would have serious consequences for democracy
in Ecuador.”
He said that the IAPA respects the right of every person to have recourse to
justice. But it was precisely those in government who should encourage criticism
and public scrutiny, instead of resorting to retrograde laws.
Ecuador’s Penal Code, in its Chapter 1 – On Rebellion and Attacks
Upon Officials – states, “Article 320: The person who through threats,
feigned threats or insults offends the President of the Republic or the one
who exercises Executive Power shall be punished by six months’ to two
years’ imprisonment and a fine of 16 to 77 United States dollars; Article
231: The person who through threats, insults, feigned threats or violence offends
any of the public officials listed in Article 225, when the latter are carrying
out their duties or by reason of such function, shall be punished by imprisonment
of 15 days to three months and a fine of 8 to 47 United States dollars. Those
who commit offenses detailed in the previous clause against an official not
in a position of authority shall be punished by imprisonment of eight days to
one month.”
