IAPA protests court gag on Colombian paper

Miami, Florida (January 29, 2007)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today joined the Colombian Newspapers Association (Andiarios) in protesting a court order that prohibits the daily newspaper El Heraldo from publishing further reports on an alleged case of corruption.

On January 21 the newspaper in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla published a report by the civil organization Protransperencia (For Transparency) that claimed the existence of links between the Métodos y Sistemas company and paramilitaries. The report also alleged that public funds were used in the election campaign of Barranquilla’s mayor, Guillermo Hoenigsberg.

Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said, “while we respect court decisions we deeply regret an order banning publication of news and we ask the judge to reconsider the negative connotations of his ruling, which limits the right of the people to be informed on matters of public interest.”

The Métodos y Sistemas company, contracted by the local government to collect taxes, filed suit against El Heraldo, claiming that the information published slandered its reputation. On January 25 Judge Hernando Estrada Peña of the Barranquilla Second Circuit Criminal Court issued a cease and desist order, prohibiting the paper from publishing anything further on the matter. The order was strongly protested by Andiarios last Friday.

Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, declared that “the right of anyone to go to court when he or she feels offended by a news report is undeniable,” adding that in this case, which he called one of censorship, what also must be taken into account is the right to free speech and press freedom, as established by the American Convention on Human Rights, whose Article 13 states that the exercise of this right “...shall not be subject to prior censorship but ... to subsequent imposition of liability....”

Marroquín said that the public’s right to know, “especially when what are involved are matters of public and general interest and those that affect society at large, overrides the protection of reputation, as has been made clear by interamerican case law.”

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