Freedom of Expression
Press Release R 107/14
PRESS RELEASE
R 107/14
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL
RAPPORTEUR EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER THE SITUATION OF THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN
VENEZUELA
Washington, D.C., September
22, 2014 – The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its deepest
concern for the deterioration of the right to freedom of expression in
Venezuela in light of the recent events that took place in that country. These
events include the continued stigmatization by high-level public officials of
critical media outlets and journalists, punitive lawsuits and the dismissal of
journalists, and the reported blocking of the internet signal of media outlets.
According to the
information received, on September 18, 2014, President of the Republic Nicolás
Maduro accused CNN en Español, El Nuevo Herald, NTN24, among others media outlets, who had reported on deaths that
took place in the Central Hospital of Maracay of "psychological terrorism",
"media terrorism", among other expressions. The President called on the justice
system to adopt new and greater national and international measures against those
media outlets, and to act firmly and strictly to "punish" all those responsible
and "prosecute terrorism."
On September 17,
caricaturist Rayma Suprani was fired from newspaper El Universal allegedly for having published a cartoon that
illustrated the situation of the country’s healthcare sector while using the
signature of late President Hugo Chávez as part of the cartoon. Suprani had
worked for the newspaper for nineteen years. Her dismissal is added to the more
than 20 journalists or columnists who left the paper after El Universal’s owners changed in last July. The newspaper’s
journalists issued a press release in which they expressed their decision to defend
"the country’s informative spaces despite growing restrictions and censorship."
Similar situations have occurred in other media.
On September 16,
international news channel NTN24 had
its website tampered with. Access from Venezuela to all the web portals of the
channel, its applications and its live streaming signal is reportedly blocked.
In a press release, the channel alleged that the blocking originated from inside
Venezuelan telecommunications State corporation CANTV and was expanded to other
providers. On February 12, channel NTN24’s
signal was taken off the daypart of all the cable companies in the country by
order of President Nicolás Maduro. Likewise, RCN Radio announced that its engineers managed to establish that
CANTV "reportedly blocked the IP addresses, domain names and DNS records of all
the portals of the news system of RCN Radio".
These events have
taken place in the context of a dramatic scarcity in newsprint, reportedly
caused by the process needed to request foreign currency to import it. This has
led at least 12 media outlets to temporarily or permanently cease publication
and at least 18 outlets to substantially reduce their size. These events are
added to the administrative and criminal lawsuits brought against media outlets
that are critical of the government, as is the case of newspaper TalCual’s media executives and
columnist, who were sued for publishing a story that offended a public official.
An interim order prohibits them from leaving the country. For their reporting,
the defendants could face up to four years in prison and million-dollar fines.
The Office of the
Special Rapporteur calls upon the State of Venezuela to adhere to the strictest
international standards on freedom of expression in order to guarantee the full
enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression and due process by media
outlets and journalists without arbitrary interventions. The Office of the
Special Rapporteur further calls upon the State to investigate the cause of the
blocking of the web portals and applications of media outlets and adopt the
necessary measures to reestablish access, in accordance with international
obligations regarding Internet, and to avoid using direct or indirect
methods to prevent the publication of critical opinions or complaints against
public officials.
The Office of the
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression was created by the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to encourage the defense of the right to
freedom of thought and expression in the hemisphere, given the fundamental role
this right plays in consolidating and developing the democratic system.