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ARGENTINA
In these hostile attacks, worrisome with a democratic government, the newspaper La Nación was again the center of the systematic confrontation by President Nelson Kirchner to denigrate the independent media for the simple fact that they manage to obtain wide-ranging, thorough and objective information concerning topics of general interest. In the past, Dr. Claudio Escribano, the former deputy editor, had been the prime target of these attacks. The Republic´s institutionality is seriously threatened by the increased presidential power, and the obstinate determination to always impose his will on every state sector, making vulnerable the very concept of separation of powers. “Unacceptable,” was the response of José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the organization Human Rights Watch, in joining the criticism against the bill to reform the Council of Magistrates, which was finally approved, affecting the independence and fair-mindedness of the political and professional members of this judicial body. The Council is responsible for the appointment and removal of judges. These problems affect and are of great concern to the free press, slowly recovering economic independence, with the aggravating circumstances of being subjected to the president´s verbal assaults, along with discrimination in the placement of official advertising. Legislation to establish fair and transparent procedures and to ensure impartiality in distribution of public funds designated for advertising of government measures and events has not been implemented, despite permanent calls for such legislation by Argentine journalistic organizations. A recent report by the organizations Pro Justicia (Open Society Justice Initiative) and the Association of Civil Rights (ODC) discusses the problems that can compromise freedom of expression in Latin America, such as the capricious and selective distribution of official advertising among the media. This analysis, published in the book Censura Sutil (Subtle Censorship), describes the indirect forms of pressure that affect media´s editorial operation. However, government censorship is not always disguised. The Argentine government acted openly in taking a radio program off the air. Up until last December, journalist José Eliashev hosted his program on the state-owned National Radio and criticized certain government actions. The federal government´s position has repercussions in other government entities because of the centralization of power. Such is the case of the Tucumán governor José Alperovich, who is promoting a dangerous “right of reply law to be incorporated in the modification of the provincial constitution. The Association of Argentine Provincial Newspapers (ADIRA) expressed its concern about the renewed attempts to interfere with the full exercise of freedom of the press. The proposal to cede obligatory daily time on television and radio programs, as well as space in other publications, in order to respond to alleged criticisms of government officials or other individuals, would present editors the awkward choice of running the risk of expressing opinions and publishing/broadcasting “insults,” as the Tucuman government describes dissenting opinions, and then being obligated to give space to long-winded official replies. In addition, governmental obstacles to the congressional bill for a Freedom of Information Act, finally shelved as a result of high-level pressure, appear to confirm the rupture between the executive power and society. The judicial power also attempted to impose prior censorship when an interim prosecutor of Instruction 38 asked the editor of the magazine Veintitrés for reports and specific details about a news item that had not yet been published. Another worrisome incident affected the Argentine writer and journalist José Ignacio García Hamilton. When he was prohibited from entering Cuba on February 18, 2006, the Argentine Foreign Relations Ministry demanded an explanation, and the Argentine ambassador in Havana intervened. The Cuban Foreign Relations Ministry has not yet responded. However, on a subsequent visit to Cuba, in declarations to the official Argentine news agency Télam, Santa Fe province governor Jorge Obeid declared that the Cuban government had acted correctly in not allowing Dr. García Hamilton to enter the island since he opposed Fidel Castro and had written a prologue to a book by a Cuban dissident. Journalists of the Sunday newspaper Perfil were rebuked and threatened by individuals posted in front of the president´s country home in Río Gallegos, capital of Santa Cruz province, to force them to abandon the area. Driving several cars, people who tried to wrest camera equipment from the correspondents were identified by the local police as working for the provincial media. Perfil journalists filed a police report, which resulted in charges of aggression and active hindrance of journalistic activity in the exercise of the constitutional right to inform. The case was sent to the Court of Instruction No. 1, presided by Judge Santiago Losada. Noticias Magazine, which also belongs to Editorial Perfil, was the target of verbal attacks by the president, who characterized the magazine as an enemy of the government. According to a columnist Joaquín Morales Solá, writing in the newspaper La Nación, President Kirchner declared,” I have nothing personal against anyone, not even against the most critical journalists,” stressing “sometimes I´m just entertained.” “Yes, I do have a personal issue against a journalist because I feel he engaged in libel.” He mentioned the subject of the attack, and Noticias acknowledged that the journalist the president had named was its founder Jorge Fontevecchia. Three journalists were hurt when rocks were thrown at them and they lost their cameras and film equipment, while covering an anti-drug operation in Mataderos, a Buenos Aires neighborhood. The journalists worked for the official news agency Télam, the newspaper Clarín and Channel 9. Germán Pomar, of the newspaper Norte of Resistencia, Chaco, was also injured while covering an eviction in Pueblo Vilelas. Simple citizens, not just the media, face difficulties. Mrs. Cecilia Pando de Mercado wrote a letter to the editor in the newspaper La Nación last year in which she criticized the decision of the government to remove a bishop assigned to the Armed Forces from his post. She was punished in a clear demonstration of the pressures to silence criticism of the government. Her husband, a career military officer and with an excellent record was retired from active service as a result of his wife´s comments, for which he was held co-responsible. During a March 8 event honoring International Women´s Day in Government House, during which President Kirchner referred to the role of women, saying, “the Argentine woman is very prepared, very intelligent and has absolute independence to say what she thinks.” Mrs. Mercado interrupted the president and said, “Mr. President, I cannot say the same because my husband was left without a job because of something I said.” The Argentine government decided
to participate in Telesur, the propagandistic enterprise of Venezuelan PresidentHugo
Chávez. Uruguay,however, said that it will not take part until the initiative
is approved by its parliament, which was sent the attendant bill by the executive
branch March 10.
Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association. All rights reserved. . |
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