Freedom of Expression
Press Release R41/20
Office of
the Special Rapporteur condemns murder of journalist Leo Veras in Paraguay and
calls for decisive action to prevent and investigate crimes against journalists
at the border
February 17, 2020
Washington DC- The Office
of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the brutal murder of Brazilian
journalist Lourenço "Leo" Veras, in charge of the Porã News information website
and correspondent for several Brazilian media, who worked in the border region
in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, capital of the department of Amambay,
Paraguay.
This Office calls
on the Paraguayan State to investigate fully, effectively, and impartially this
crime and others that are unpunished; clarify their motives; and judicially determine
the relationship they might have to journalistic activity and freedom of
expression. Likewise, the Office of the Special Rapporteur of the IACHR recalls
that the problem of violence against journalists in the Americas has worsened,
in many cases, with the presence of organized crime in vast areas of the
hemisphere and the co-optation or weakness of the state apparatus in these
places. In the thematic report "Silenced Zones", this Office identified as an emblematic
case that of cities located on the border of Paraguay with Brazil, which illustrate
the vulnerability of journalists who investigate acts of corruption and drug trafficking.
According to
information provided by the National Police of Paraguay, journalist Leo Veras was
shot approximately 12 times allegedly by two people who, along with a third person,
drove a truck. The crime happened at the journalist's private home, located in
the Aurora Garden neighborhood. Veras was having dinner with his family and
although he tried to escape the shooting, he was shot in the head and later
died in the Viva Vida hospital in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero.
The Attorney
General’s Office of the State of Paraguay announced that it created a investigation team on the murder due to the multiple death threats that the
communicator would have received in recent years. Veras worked for more than 15
years in the border region surrounding the city of Ponta Porã, known as one of
the main ports of entry of drugs and weapons in Brazil. The journalist was in
charge of the Porã News news website that conducted investigative journalism
informing about the drug trafficking dispute on the border between Paraguay and
Brazil. On January 19, in Pedro Juan Caballero, 75 prisoners broke out of
prison, most of them linked to the Brazilian criminal organization First
Command of the Capital (PCC), from the regional penitentiary. Sources close to
Veras reported that the journalist would have expressed he feared for his life
in the wake of the situation.
In an interview
with Veras on the Brazilian television network Record TV in January of this
year, he said he received threats by texts to his phone where he was told to
"shut up." Another relevant incident was back in 2017, during a
presentation made by Veras in the program of Tim Lopes de Abraji on crimes
against journalists (cases of Paulo Rocaro and Luiz Henrique Tulu), the
journalist reported that he and his family stopped attending public and social
events due to the insecurity he felt.
According to
information provided by the Paraguay journalists' union, since the return to
democracy in 1989, counting Veras, 19 journalists would have been killed in the
country and specifically in border areas, where the journalistic guild was scarred
by the crime against journalist Santiago Leguizamon, which still goes
unpunished 29 years after his murder.
The Office of the
Special Rapporteur has identified in its thematic report Silenced Zones the grave
situation of journalistic work in the border region of Paraguay with Brazil or
Argentina where criminal groups operate. In recent years, Paraguay has assisted
to the development of a phenomenon that the press and other actors, including
the State, call "narcopolitics", characterized by the existence of
drug traffickers who have been linked to political activity and have even come be
elected to public positions in the country. With the development of the
so-called "narcopolitics", freedom of expression has been affected because
journalists face serious difficulties when they try to report certain illegal
activities that are carried out in their communities, since government institutions
-as journalists themselves have denounced- do not work as they should to
protect them. Organized crime has pressed on the press with the aim that their
activities, even the most obvious ones, are not informed. Threats, harassment,
or even the death of some journalists in recent times have left an indelible
mark on media workers, despite which they have maintained the commitment to
inform society of what is happening in higher risk areas.
The IACHR and its Office
of the Special Rapporteur have recommended that States must adopt a
comprehensive public policy that allows the prevention, protection, and
prosecution in cases of violence against journalists. These policies should
take into account the specific needs of each country and the needs of each
region, especially those areas where journalists face a higher risk and in
which there are high rates of self-censorship.
In the countries in
which a specialized protection programs have been established for the
protection of journalists, it is essential to work towards building the trust
of current and future beneficiaries. The measures adopted as part of the
protection program must also be the result of a process in agreement with the beneficiary,
so that the protection measures adopted are not ineffective for the context in
which the beneficiary is involved, nor that inhibit the exercise of journalistic
work. The authorities responsible for providing protection should coordinate
with the authorities responsible for investigating acts of violence against
journalists and media workers. The most effective form of protection is to end
impunity in crimes committed against journalists.
The Office of the
Special Rapporteur urges the Paraguayan Government to intensify early warning
initiatives and other preventive measures, in line with its international
obligations, taking into account the specific nature of the risks and their
particular contexts.
Both the Commission
and the Inter-American Court have referred to the chilling effect that crimes
against journalists have for other media professionals, as well as for citizens
who intend to report abuses of power or illegal acts of any nature.
Principle 9 of the
Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR states:
"[t]he murder, kidnapping, intimidation of, and/or
threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of
communications media violate the fundamental rights of individuals and strongly
restrict freedom of expression. It is the duty of the State to prevent and
investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators, and to ensure that
victims receive due compensation."
The Office of the Special Rapporteur for
Freedom of Expression was created by the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) with the aim of encouraging the defense of the right to freedom
of thought and expression in the hemisphere, given its fundamental role in
consolidating and developing the democratic system.