During two days, an international IAPA delegation along with local members of the organization will organize a wide range of activities in the Costa Rican capital aimed at promoting the Declaration of Chapultepec, whose principles, adopted by this institution in 1994 and supported by 22 Heads of States and many organizations, are considered necessary for the survival of democracy.
This Monday, July 2, the IAPA will organize a panel at the Radisson Europa Hotel on "Press Freedom and the Declaration of Chapultepec in Costa Rica," during which the editor of La Nación, Eduardo Ulibarri; press laws specialist, Fernando Guier; director of Channel 7, Ignacio Santos; and constitucional attorney, Rubén Hernández Valle, will speak.
The IAPA also plans that evening to meet with the leaders of the political parties in the Legislative Assembly, and the following day to visit the newspapers Al Día, Diario Extra, La Nación, La Prensa Libre, La República, and The Tico Times to talk to journalists about the Declaration of Chapultepec.
With the same goal of promoting the Declaration, on Wednesday, July 4, the IAPA will organize a forum in Nicaragua in the Main Auditorium of the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, including a panel on "Press Freedom and the Declaration of Chapultepec in Nicaragua." Speakers include the Opinion editor of La Prensa newspaper, Luis Sánchez; former president of the Nicaraguan Association of Journalists, Guillermo Morales Fajardo; president of the Nicaraguan Journalists Union, Juan Alberto Henríquez; and former President of Nicaragua, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
The IAPA delegation will later visit La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario and La Noticia newspapers, and in the afternoon will meet with justices from the Supreme Court. The visit comes to an end that evening with a ceremony where the three presidential candidates of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños, Daniel Ortega and Noel Vidaurre, are expected to sign the Declaration of Chapultepec.
The IAPA delegation is comprised of Alejandro Miró Quesada Cisneros, El Comercio, Lima, Peru, and Chairman of the Chapultepec Committee; Rafael Molina Morillo, Ahora, Dominican Republic, and Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; Gonzalo Marroquín, Prensa Libre, Guatemala and Regional Vice Chairman for Guatemala of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; Winston Robles, La Prensa, Panama and Regional Vice Chairman for Panama of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; Julio E. Muñoz, Executive Director; Ricardo Trotti, Press Freedom Coordinator; and Jairo Lanao, Chapultepec Project attorney.
The national forum received organizational support and sponsorship in Costa Rica from Armando González Rodicio, Al Día, and Regional Vice Chairman for Costa Rica of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information; and Eduardo Ulibarri, La Nación, Costa Rica and member of the IAPA Board of Directors, and in Nicaragua, from Jaime Chamorro, La Prensa, and Regional Vice Chairman for Nicaragua of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
For more information on these forums, please contact
Sean Casey by e-mail at [email protected].
