LIMA, Peru (Aug. 30,
2000)- After a busy round of interviews here with opposition members, news
media and civic leaders, a high-level Inter American Press Association delegation
wound up its visit to Peru yesterday with a meeting with President Alberto
Fujimori, members of his cabinet and congressmen supporting his government.
The IAPA group took the opportunity to deliver a note to Fujimori expressing
the hemisphere free-press organizations concern for press freedom in Peru.
They told him that despite appearances essentially there had been a number
of developments that are seriously curtailing freedom of the press.
Throughout, the IAPA delegates made it clear they were prepared to contribute
to finding a solution to strengthen democracy, a prerequisite of which is
needed for freedom of expression.
They also stressed that by going to Lima they sought to reinforce the effort
by newspapers in the Americas to the ongoing work of the Organization of
American States (OAS) to secure what it called the redemocratization of
Peru through dialogue, accepted by both the government and the opposition.
Because of the media it represents and its mission to defend a universal
right that knows no borders, the IAPA proposed to the Peruvian government
a number of possible solutions for the major press freedom issues in the
country, in line with the stance it took beginning four years ago, when
an earlier IAPA mission had warned the government about these matters that
were becoming difficult and today clearly are part of the biggest conflicts.
As a solution to the Channel 2 TV and Red Global 1160 cases the IAPA suggested
to Fujimori to restore these television stations to their prior ownership
situation. They told the president and his aides that in light of the information
they had certain solutions currently under way that did not appear to be
viable, therefore they suggested arbitration by the Inter-American Human
Rights Court, which already has one of these cases under review.
The IAPA said that what was needed was to have mechanisms and controls to
prevent any action or interference by the intelligence services in the work
of the media and journalists.
It also requested that there be means established to ensure total transparency
in the placement of official advertising, which has been characterized as
one more way of putting pressure on the media and journalists, punishing
or rewarding them for their news policies and editorial line.
Regarding legal actions concerning the news media, the IAPA delegation said
very concretely that changes must be made so that there can be assurance
at an international level that the legal system really does fulfill its
role of safeguarding human rights and that it not be a kind of dangerous,
continuous and fickle threat used against the media, as it is seen to be
in many cases.
The mission also expressed its particular concern at the helplessness felt
by journalists in rural areas facing harassment and threats by local authorities
and unprotected from other kinds of pressures on them, all of which have
been the subject of constant formal complaints.
The IAPA declared that the best guarantee for transparency in government
action and for the people to be in control is that there be free access
to official information, so that the peoples right to express themselves
without any limitation and to receive, seek and impart information may be
exercised in full, as any genuinely democratic regime unavoidably requires.
Both President Fujimori and his cabinet members spelled out in detail the
governments vision, but stressing that in their view there is unrestricted
freedom of the press in Peru and that certain problems, such as the Channel
2 TV and Red Global 1160 cases, were matters for the judiciary and not the
executive branch.
On a positive note, the IAPA pointed out the interest shown in what it had
to say about the plight of journalists in rural areas. Made aware of a readiness
to look into specific cases, the IAPA said the details could be found in
reports by the Peruvian organization Instituto Prensa y Sociedad.
Although the government officials insisted that the Channel 2 TV, Baruch
Ivcher and Red Global 1160 cases were a matter for the judiciary, President
Fujimori indicated an alternative, taking up the IAPA idea of involving
the Inter-American Human Rights Court, when he recalled that Perus return
to the jurisdiction of that body was one of the agenda items agreed with
the OAS.
The IAPA delegation also had a full and frank discussion with Perus main
opposition leader, Alejandro Toledo. It welcomed Toledos declaration that
among the points to be discussed in any meeting of the minds the ones that
would have to be approved immediately are those concerning freedom of expression
as, he said, one could not speak of democratization if freedom did not exist
in full.
He added that overcoming the current problems on freedom of expression would
enable the rest of the dialogue to take place with total transparency and
therefore for the public to be able to know right away about whatever agreements
are reached.
The IAPA can only hold out hope and express a desire for a successful outcome
of what Peru is undergoing currently and that press freedom once again reigns
without curtailment. The mission would be delighted if its efforts contribute
to that and it calls for a dialogue to be held without radical or orthodox
positions being taken. As for freedom of expression, it looks forward to
a return to the path laid down by international conventions - the American
Convention on Human Rights and the Declaration of Chapultepec.
The IAPA mission was headed by President Tony Pederson, Houston Chronicle,
Houston, Texas, and also made up of 1st Vice President Danilo Arbilla, Búsqueda,
Montevideo, Uruguay; Freedom of the Press and Information Committee Chairman
Rafael Molina, Ahora, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; former presidents
Jorge Fascetto, El Día, La Plata, Argentina, and Edward Seaton, Manhattan
Mercury, Manhattan, Kansas; Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz, and
Press Freedom Coordinator Ricardo Trotti.