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ECUADOR On November 29, 2005, 31 new Supreme Court justices were appointed after a selection process led by a qualified committee and national and international observers mainly from the UN and OAS. The previous two supreme courts were accused of being politically manipulated and jeopardizing the judicial system for Ecuadorians, including the press. As an example, it is worth mentioning the conviction for libel of Dr. Rodrigo Fierro, columnist for El Comercio, in a lawsuit presented by the former President of Ecuador and another influential politician, which was tried in record time. The appointment of the new justices – after seven months without a Supreme Court – is the most important event during this period. Despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, expression, and information, and does not mention the mandatory licensing of journalists, the National Congress still has not complied with its obligation to overturn the law that forces journalists to be licensed. The following day, February 14, freelance photographer, Saul Suarez Sandoval, who contributed to La Hora Durandeña and La Prensa in Durán, in Guayas Province, was murdered. It has yet to be shown that their murders were linked to their work as journalists. Highlights during this period include the following: On October 5, 2005, reporter Victor Eladio Murillo Robalino and photographer Maria del Pilar Vera del Pozo from El Telégrafo newspaper in Guayaquil filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office that they were verbally and physically attacked by personnel from the prison in the city of Litoral. They were also locked up and their materials were seized. The incident occurred when they were filming the exterior of the prison and were intercepted by a prison employee. The journalists hold the prison director, Carlos Tamayo, responsible since he helped in the apprehension. As may be remembered, on July 22, 2004, the president of the Supreme Court of Quito issued an arrest warrant for former President Lucio Gutierrez. The warrants followed charges by the then-Minister of Government accusing the former leader of threatening national security by introducing himself as President of the Republic in a CNN interview when he was not. According to the Constitution, a former president can only be tried by the Supreme Court of Justice after a vote by the National Congress. Neither requirement was carried through. Gutierrez returned to the country on October 14, 2005, and was detained. That day, armed forces prevented journalists from entering the Manta Airport where the former president re-entered the country. On March 3, 2006, the president of the Superior Court of Pichincha finally ordered the release of the former president based on lack of legal grounds to proceed to trial. In mid-October 2005, the television station, Ecuavisa, filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Telecommunications for an interruption of its signal for subscribers to TV Cable while the host of ´´Contacto Directo´´ (Direct Contact), Carlos Vera, was responding to criticisms against him by congressman and former president León Febres-Cordero. The TV Cable company presented technical proof to the authorities to explain the blackout, and, according to these explanations, the interruption did not have anything to do with the broadcast contents. However, the company was fined by the agency since it was not the first time. On November 14, 2005, Congressman Alfonso Harb from the Social Christian Party accused the director of Radio La Luna of irregularities in government contracts for commercials on his radio station. Harb said that he had “first-hand evidence of several thousands of dollars that link the government to Radio La Luna”. Paco Velasco, director of Radio La Luna, presently has special protection by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States after the journalist filed complaints about receiving various death threats. On November 30, 2005, Congress approved on second reading a reform to the Penal Code proposed by Alfondo Harb from the Social Christian Party that tried to sanction with prison sentences of six months to a year and a fine of up to one thousand dollars to those who had telephone conversations with third parties without their written consent. On December 7, the Ecuadorian Association of Newspaper Editors (AEDEP) publicly requested that President Alfredo Palacio veto the bill. AEDEP noted that the text was so vague that it could be interpreted that a journalist that conducts a taped interview would be committing a crime. The current Penal Code sanctions recording of telephone conversations without consent, but does not require additional documentation. On December 29, the President vetoed the bill. On February 21, 2006, Congress reformed the Law on Control of Election Expenditures. It was proposed during the discussion in Parliament that television stations be required to provide free programming to presidential candidates, but in its final text this was eliminated and the cost of such programming was added to the government budget. On February 21, 2006, the government declared a State of Emergency in Napo province during a regional strike that paralyzed the exportation of crude oil. In the order, the suspension of constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and of the press was explicitly included. On February 22, political party Movimiento Popular Democrático (Popular Democratic Movement, MPD) called a march in Esmeraldas led by the mayor and the prefect, from the same political party, in which some 4,000 persons protested against the media and in which the mayor and prefect hurled verbal insults against news organizations. The Attorney General´s office has begun investigating four individuals who may have been hired by the mayor´s office to distribute flyers against local media and their owners. In December, Congressman Simón Bustamante filed a libel suit against Angel Loor, editor of the newspaper La Hora de Manabi, in which he accused him of gathering libelous statements made by a private citizen that had nothing to do with the newspaper. On March 7, a State of Emergency
was declared in the provinces of Napo, Orellana, and Sucumbíos to face
a new strike, this time by contract workers of Petoproducción who took
over oil refineries. The order has yet to be published in the Official Registry
and it has not been possible to know if it includes the same suspension of freedom
of expression and of the press.
Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association. All rights reserved. . |
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