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Freedom of Expression

Argentina

Threats and attacks

 

            19.       The Rapporteurship received information on threats to and attacks on journalists, some perpetrated by official agents in the context of popular demonstrations.

            20.       The Rapporteurship has also found, according to the information it has received, that journalists who work in the interior of the country suffer threats, attacks, and harassment to which the authorities should give special attention.[1]  Reported here are some of the main cases of attacks reported in 2003.

 

            21.       The Rapporteurship was informed of attacks on and threats to Clara Britos, owner and director of the newspaper La Tapa, in Guernica, a locality situated to the south of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina.  In its 2002 annual report, the Rapporteurship had reported on her situation.  In 2003, at the request of the Rapporteurship, the State reported that the Ministry of Security of the Province of Buenos Aires reported that there was no formal complaint lodged in relation to a fire reported by Britos and that she was not given attention by firefighters but by the local residents.  In addition, it reported that the expert study was unable to verify the cause and origin of the fire.[2]  The journalist sought political asylum from the Spanish government, invoking humanitarian considerations in the face of the prosecution and alleging that she suffers threats from the police and the political authorities.[3]  Since the threats have persisted, the Rapporteurship will continue observing this case.

 

            22.       On February 25, 2003, in the city of Buenos Aires, several reporters who were covering the eviction of 100 persons from the Padelaide building, considered to be in danger of collapse, were injured.  The operation led to confrontations between police officers and the persons being evicted.  In this context, several members of the Infantry Guard (Guardia de Infantería) of the Federal Police beat Julián Sequeira, a cameraman from the program Punto Doc, which airs on the América TV channel, fracturing his nose. Sequeira was detained at the 14th police station before being taken by police to the hospital, and his camera and the videotapes with coverage of the eviction disappeared. Maximiliano García Solla, also of the program Punto Doc, was detained and released the same day, but charges were pressed against him for resisting the authorities.[4]  Cameraman Michael Carcachi, of América TV, who was clearly identified as a journalist, was also attacked with clubs by police while filming a young person who had been injured.[5]

 

            23.       On March 6, 2003, Christian Frolich, photographer with the daily newspaper Crónica, was attacked by Federal Police agents in the context of a demonstration of street vendors in the neighborhood of Once.  According to the information received, he was kicked in the ankles and punched by the police when trying to photograph police efforts to repress the demonstration.[6]

 

            24.       On March 26, 2003, at least five journalists were attacked by members of the Argentine Federal Police in front of the national Congress.  The attacks occurred as the Senate was deciding whether to expel legislator Luis Barrionuevo, of the Partido Justicialista. Carlos Alberto Márquez and Arturo Núñez of Canal 26, Javier Caudana and Guillermo Panizza, of Telefé, were beaten.  A producer for the program Kaos en la Ciudad, of Canal 13, reported that the police had thrown paralyzing gas in his face.[7]

 

            25.       On April 21, 2003, members of the Argentine Federal Police assaulted and detained press workers during incidents that occurred in front of a textile factory situated in central Buenos Aires.  About 3,000 people had met in front of the factory to protest the workers’ eviction from the plant.  Several journalists who covered the event were detained and beaten. According to the information received, Martín Ciccioli and cameraman Alfredo Guirlanda of the program Informe Central of the América channel were hit by rubber bullets.  The correspondent of the U.S. network Telemundo, Edgar Esteban, was going to be detained by the police, but his colleagues intervened to prevent the arrest.  Journalist Miguel Bonasso, of the daily PÁGINA 12, was surrounded for two-and-a-half hours by police and a group of people at a gas station near the factory.[8]

 

            26.       On May 14, 2003, Marcelo López, journalist with América 2, and his cameraman were attacked by some partisans of former president and then-candidate for the presidency Carlos Menem, while standing in front of a house where Menem was.  Some of their equipment was damaged.  According to the information received, both were expelled by the police.[9]

 

            27.       On August 12, 2003, in the province of San Luis, journalists Damián Cukierkorn, and Ariel Burta, both of the program Periodistas on América TV, and Mauricio Conti, a local press worker, were assaulted and intimidated by bodyguards for the governor of San Luis, Alberto Rodríguez Saá, after photographing a property allegedly owned by the governor.[10]  According to the information received, the journalists were investigating the diversion of a river supposedly done at the behest of Rodríguez Saá for his own benefit.  The journalists were invited onto the property by the personnel, but once inside they were identified as members of the program Periodistas.  The reporters had to leave, but a few minutes later, outside the property, they realized they were being followed by a vehicle being driven by the Governor’s workers, who pushed them, with their car, and forced them to stop.  The persons got out of the vehicle with guns, insulted them, and roughed up Mauricio Conti.  Then they let them go.[11]

 

28.       In the early morning of November 28, 2003, journalist Adriana Rivero, anchor of the program Primer Contacto, in RLV1 Radio Regional, in Las Varillas, province of Cordoba, was warned that her vehicle was on fire.  The inspection report by the Cordoba Police held that the instrument that caused the fire was a Molotov cocktail.  Rivero had received numerous threatening telephone calls in the two weeks before the attack.  The journalist believes that the threats and attacks are related to her critical reports on local government matters.[12]

 

            Judicial actions

 

            29.       On March 6, 2003, a federal judge issued an international arrest warrant for journalist Olga Wornat, in the context of a defamation (calumnias e injurias) case brought by Senator Eduardo Menem for publication of the book Menem, la vida privada.  Wornat, who resides in Mexico, did not come forward to testify as the accused.[13]

 

            30.       The Supreme Court of Justice confirmed, in May 2003, the judgment of the trial court favorable to José Luis Chilavert in a trial for defamation (calumnias e injurias) that the Paraguayan goalie had brought against the defunct magazine Humor in 1995.  The judgment required that the magazine pay compensation totaling 10 million pesos for moral injury, set by Chamber B of the Court of Appeals for Commercial Matters.  The case arose from a September 20, 1995publication entitled “Chilavert nunca dice lo que dice” (“Chilavert never says what he says”).[14]

 

            31.       On May 28, 2003, the offices of the newspaper La Nación were raided.  The measure was ordered by the federal courts in Buenos Aires.  The company made the documentation requested available to the court, but reported that it had not been requested beforehand.  The measure was criticized by some local and international organizations,[15] given that it could be associated with pressures being brought to bear on the media.

 

            Legislation

 

            32.       On May 8, 2003, the Chamber of Deputies approved an access to public information bill that develops the right of access to information, which was incorporated in the Constitution in 1994.[16]  The bill enables citizens to gain access to information from official agencies and classified information that is more than 10 years old in possession of the State.  However, the bill is held up in the Senate Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Impeachment Trials.[17]  On December 4, 2003, President Kirchner signed Decree No. 1172/2003, which allows any person to request access and receive information from any organ or entity under the jurisdiction of the Executive.  The Decree establishes certain exceptions such as when information is reserved for reasons of safety, national defense or is protected by bank or fiscal secrecy.[18]  Notwithstanding this decree, the Rapporteurship encourages the Senate to move forward with the previously-mentioned legislation until it is adopted and enacted.

 

            Indirect violations

 

            33.       The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression has received information regarding an alleged instance of discriminatory allocation of official publicity in the province of Neuquen.  Julio Rajneri, the main shareholder of the publishing firm responsible for the daily newspaper Rio Negro, brought a claim before the Supreme Court of Argentina alleging that the Neuquén provincial government had used discriminatory allocation of official advertising when it notified the newspaper that it would no longer purchase advertising space, as it had done during the previous years, after the newspaper reported on allegations of corruption in the provincial government.[19]

 

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