Legal actions against editors and reporters, especially by officials and former officials accused of corruption or irregularities, adversely affected press freedom, and many of the defendants were fined. One judge ordered a newspaper to reveal its sources. A journalist received death threats. President Nicanor Duarte Frutos urged journalists to practice self-criticism and suggested that some businessmen buy media outlets to cover up illegal acts and disguise the true conditions of society.
On October 17, criminal judge Dionisio Nicolás Frutos ordered Aldo Zuccolillo, editor of the daily ABC Color, to pay a fine equivalent to $15,500 to the government plus a $12,500 personal award to the plaintiff in a defamation case brought by Juan Ernesto Villamayor, a member of the governing Colorado Party.
ABC Color published short items in one of its columns implicating Villamayor in the stripping of the assets of the Banco Nacional de Trabajadores, which later went bankrupt.
The judge ignored case law that contradicted his ruling as well as the role of the press in reporting suspected cases of public corruption, such as this one, which unmasked political and union figures who later were sentenced to prison terms.
The judge also ignored the fact that the plaintiff is a public figure and that, thanks to the articles, both the judiciary and the public became aware of the unfortunate stripping of the assets of an institution built with workers´ contributions.´
On October 17, Judges Miguel Angel Rodas and Graciela Rolón temporarily barred the dailies ABC Color and La Nación from changing their employees’ work schedules, in response to an appeal by the Journalists Union of Paraguay (SPP) and the Press Workers Union (SITRAPREN).
The two newspapers had decided to publish their Sunday editions on Sunday, changing a decision made several years ago to publish them on Saturday afternoon. The two unions claimed this substantially changed working conditions without the workers’ consent.
The newspapers’ lawyers stated that management’s decision to publish the newspapers on Sunday “is within the full exercise of their rights” and that working conditions were not changed.
The unions’ appeals were denied, and the judges ruled that the venue they had chosen was not appropriate for labor cases.
On October 20, Rosendo Duarte, correspondent of the daily Última Hora in Salto del Guairá, 500 kilometers northeast of Asunción on the border with Brazil, reported that a person he knew warned him that he had overheard a conversation among four men who said they had decided to “silence” the journalist “with bullets” because of his reports on activities of the border mafia.
On October 23, Senator Juan Carlos Galaverna asked the Supreme Court to rule on Aldo Zuccolillo’s appeal on the constitutionality of lower court decisions convicting him of alleged offenses of libel and defamation against the legislator.
In the trial court, Judge Hugo López ordered Zuccolillo to pay a fine to the state of 470 million guaranties, and an appeals court increased it to 571 million, or close to $100,000.
“It is imperative to order a personal award,” Galaverna said in his written appeal to the court. He explained that he estimated the amount at close to $200,000. The case is before the Supreme Court.
On October 31, an appeals court sentenced Luis Verón, a historian and journalist of the daily ABC Color to 10 months in prison suspended, with community service instead. He had been sued for libel by Luis Fernando Pereira, an architect, because he criticized a restoration project the architect did on the historic 1759 Catholic church in Piribebuy, 70 kilometers east of Asunción. In the trial court, Judge Dionisio Nicolás Frutos ordered Verón to pay an $8,000 fine which was changed by the appeals court.
Recognized national and foreign experts backed up the journalist’s report about the plaintiff’s ignorance of restoration techniques, and some said the damage done to the church is irreversible. But the judges ignored their reports.
The appeals court decision was appealed to the Supreme Court.
On November 13, Alfredo Jaeggli, a senator of the opposition Authentic Liberal Radical Party and chairman of the Senate Finance and Budget Committee, severely criticized the press for reports about increases introduced into the 2004 national budget bill that were criticized by Finance Minister Dionisio Borda.
In a speech to senators, Jaeggli proposed approving a budget for advertising, just as the executive branch allegedly does, in order to counter the criticism.
On November 16, Judge Dionisio Nicolás Frutos, demanded that the daily Última Hora reveal its sources during a libel and defamation lawsuit against the former justice and labor minister, Diego Abente. In a note to the newspaper, Frutos ordered it to hand over to the court “all the information received from Minister Diego Abente…or to indicate who is responsible for providing this information.”
Judge Frutos’s order is unconstitutional, as Article 29 of the Constitution states that journalists carrying out their duties “shall not be forced to act against the dictates of their conscience or to reveal their sources of information.”
The same judge is well known for other decisions against the media and journalists.
On November 24, President Nicanor Duarte Frutos insinuated that some businessmen buy media outlets solely to “commit blackmail and extortion” and “whitewash social reality.” He spoke during a series of interviews he granted to the media on the occasion of the first 100 days of his administration. He did not name businessmen who fit that description.
He also urged journalists to conduct “self-criticism” about their true mission.
On December 30, an appeals court dismissed charges of “electoral crime” against the news director of radio station Ñandutí, saying there is no such crime.
Prosecutor Carmelo Caballero accused Rubín of “electoral crime” saying that he had broadcast results of exit polls before it was permitted during national elections April 27 of last year.
Rubín proved that the results that were broadcast were not from exit polls but from a survey by a specialty company that had been authorized by the Supreme Court.
On February 5, former president Juan Carlos Wasmosy sued Editorial Zeta S.A. (the owner of ABC Color) and two of its journalists, Mabel Rehnfeldt and Nacha Sánchez, for $10 million in punitive damages.
The two journalists published a series of investigative articles about irregularities committed in the state oil company PETROPAR during Wasmosy’s administration (1993-1998). They reported, among other things, that José Luis Manzoni Wasmosy, the former president’s cousin, benefited from the company’s shady dealings.
Wasmosy is frequently described as one of the most corrupt presidents in Paraguayan history. After the lawsuit, ABC Color published many articles from local and international publications about the corruption in his government. As a consequence, the paper said, “Wasmosy will have to sue the entire world.” The trial is continuing.
On February 27, Alejandro Domínguez Wilson-Smith, executive editor of the daily La Nación, sent a letter to John F. Keane, the U.S. ambassador in Asunción, questioning a report about Paraguay sent to Congress by the administration in Washington. It specifically referred to the portion on prosecutor Basiliza Vázquez of Ciudad del Este, 330 kilometers east of Asunción.
The letter from a passage in the U.S. report that states, “Media outlets controlled by contraband dealers published calls for a formal investigation into her [Vazquez’s] actions.”
The editor of La Nación included with his letter numerous articles from his newspaper and from ABC Color about the prosecutor which he said show “a rapid and considerable increase in her assets which happen to coincide with the time she was assigned to the prosecutor’s office.”
“Since when is a journalistic investigation that provides evidence to support reports of corruption, such as embezzlement, illegal enrichment and complicity with criminals, described by the State Department as a violation of human rights?” he asked.