MIAMI, Florida (April 7, 2004)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA)
said today it is extremely concerned at changes being made to the Penal Code in
a number of Mexican states that provide for stiffer jail sentences in the case
of convicted journalists, which it said is a restriction of freedom of the press.
The IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, through
its chairman, Rafael Molina, joined the protests raised by journalists in the
state of Chiapas to the governor, Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía, at the Penal
Code reforms passed unanimously by the state legislature on February 17. The
changes raise the penalty for those found guilty of criminal defamation and
libel from three to nine years’ imprisonment and fines from the equivalent
of 100 to 1,000 days’ pay – the highest in the country.
The amendments, due to go into effect on May 26, require the owners, managers
or editors of news media to publish the court ruling in such cases and set a
fine of the equivalent of two days’ pay for each day of failure to publish
the ruling after being notified of it.
Molina, of the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, newspaper El Nacional, said,
“In some Mexican states there is a great contradiction regarding the trend
we are seeing in Latin America to decriminalize libel and defamation, due to
the fact that meting out jail terms represents a restriction of press freedom.”
“We see another major contradiction in Mexico,” Molina added, “in
that while on one hand the state of Chiapas is taking this retrograde step,
on the other hand in Mexico City introduction of a legislative bill was announced
on February 20 that seeks to remove defamation and libel as offenses under the
Penal Code, on the grounds that they restrict criticism of the authorities and
limit the free practice of journalism by bringing self-censorship in the news
media as a consequence.”
In its report on the status of press freedom in Mexico presented to the IAPA’s
Midyear meeting in the Mexican city of Los Cabos in March, the organization
had expressed concern at the fact that on February 12 the Aguascalientes state
legislature had passed on first reading a bill introduced by the state government
that would reinstitute libel and defamation as criminal offenses under the state’s
Penal Code after their having been removed in May 2003.
FUENTE: nota.texto7
