MIAMI, Florida (Nov.
16)-The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announced today is will
send a mission to the northern Argentine province of Santiago del Estero
November 19-21 to raise complaints of curtailment of press freedom with
officials there.
The delegation will be headed by IAPA President Danilo Arbilla, editor of
the Montevideo, Uruguay, news weekly Búsqueda. It will also be made
up of the chairman of the hemisphere organizations Committee on Freedom
of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, of Ahora, Santo Domingo, Dominican
Republic; the Committees Second Vice President, Roberto Romero, El Tribuno,
Salta, Argentina; the Committees regional vice chairman for Argentina,
Luis Etchevehere, of El Diario, Paraná; Board of Directors member
Bartolomé Mitre, of La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina and
Press Freedom Coordinator Ricardo Trotti.
The mission is traveling
to Argentina under terms of a resolution adopted by the IAPAs General Assembly
in Santiago, Chile, last month that called for the Association to express
to Santiago del Estero officials and members of the judiciary. its "grave
concern" at reports of a series of attacks in recent months on the
daily newspaper El Liberal there. The incidents included the wiretapping
of the newspapers telephones, a projectile being launched at its building
and the shutting off of access by its reporters to official news sources.
The IAPA delegation
is due to meet with the provincial governor, Carlos Juárez, Supreme
Court justices, legislators and other leaders of the local community. It
also plans to travel to the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, to raise the
matter with Interior Minister Federico Storani and Deputy Security Minister
Carlos Martin.
The Inter American Press
Association, with more than 1,300 member newspaper and magazine members
from throughout the Western Hemisphere, is a non-profit organization dedicated
to the defense of freedom of expression and of the press in the Americas.
