IAPA concerned over Nicaraguan legislation on the media

The IAPA delegation, led by the chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, Prensa Libre, Guatemala, held meetings with the Minister of Government, Julio Vega Pasquier, representing President Enrique Bolaños; with the Treasury Minister, Mario Arana; chairman of the Congressional Committee on Budget, Economic Affairs and Finance, Ballardo Arce, as well as legislators from different parties of this committee; and journalists and newspaper, radio, and television owners.

Besides Marroquín, the IAPA delegation was comprised of IAPA regional vice chairmen José Roberto Dutriz, La Prensa Gráfica, El Salvador and Jorge Canahuati, La Prensa, Honduras; as well as Press Freedom director, Ricardo Trotti.

“The IAPA sustains, according to the Declaration of Chapultepec and OAS Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, that legislators should not use the media and journalists as a tool to punish or reward in the assignment of permits or licenses to radio and television, nor the issuing of public advertisements,” Marroquín said.

In Nicaragua, a problem has arisen around reforms to Article 68 of the Constitution and the previously approved by Congress Law on Fiscal Equality that significantly changes tax exemptions for the media.  President Enrique Bolaños, believing that removing the exemption violates principles of freedom of expression, vetoed the law and challenged the constitutional reform.

Representatives from the Sandista party and liberals, supporters of the reform and the law, denied to the IAPA delegation that the motive of the reform was to punish the media, which contradicts opinions expressed by representatives from the government and journalists. 

Marroquín added the IAPA’s concern that “in the Americas, increasingly, politicians try to punish or control the press by passing laws, manipulating through issuing government advertising and limiting access to information from the State, which constitutes a danger to press freedom.”

On legislative bills on access to public information and transparency, the IAPA delegation presented to government officials recommendations on what these types of laws should contain so that officials make information available in a timely and fair manner public.

Finally, the delegation also expressed its satisfaction over the courts solving of the murder of journalist María José Bravo, killed on November 9, 2004, which was solved quickly and efficiently, and in Nicaragua sets important precedence in fighting impunity that surrounds the majority of murders of journalists in the Americas.

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