Freedom of Expression
Ecuador
PRINCIPLE 9 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Murder, kidnapping, intimidation of and/or threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of communications media)
25. In early 2004, the Office of the Special Rapporteur received information on two cases of threats to and assassination attempts directed against journalists. On January 26 and 27, 2004, Miguel Rivadaneira, director of Radio Quito, received several death threats.[1] Rivadaneira reported that he had received threats since late 2003. The Office of the Special Rapporteur values the public condemnation of this act by government authorities, who ordered it be investigated. Information was also received about the attack on Carlos Muñoz Insúa, executive president of Telesistema, which took place February 9, 2004, in which his driver, Ricardo Mendoza, was killed.[2] This attack was claimed by the Milicias Revolucionarias del Pueblo,[3] a self-proclaimed terrorist group, which accused Telesistema of not broadcasting its communiqués, and threatened to carry out other attacks against communications media and journalists.[4]
26. On April 4, 2004, during the coverage of several riots in prisons in five cities of Ecuador, journalist Daniel Montalvo and cameraman Eduardo De la Cruz, of TC Televisión, reporter Freddy Paredes and cameraman Robert Molina, of Teleamazonas, and cameraman Robert Tapia along with his assistant Carlos Torres, of Cablevisión, were taken hostage in a women’s prison in Quito.[5] Torres, Paredes, and Molina were released in consideration of health problems on April 10. The others were released the next day.[6]
PRINCIPLES 10 AND 11 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Use of defamation laws by public officials and desacato laws)
27. On October 29, 2004, the Supreme Court of Justice of Ecuador upheld the guilty verdict against journalist Rodrigo Fierro Benítez, imposed December 12, 2003, and in which he was sentenced to 30 days in prison for the crime of slander (injurias calumniosas) against former president León Febres Cordero, and ordered to pay US$100 in costs. The members of the Supreme Court suspended execution of the sentence imposed on Fierro since he had no criminal record, and because the sentence was no more than six months.[7]
PROGRESS
28. On May 11, 2004, the Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutiérrez gave his approval to the Organic Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information. The Office of the Special Rapporteur issued a press release on May 21, 2004, in which it stated that such laws "must also be accompanied by regulations and interpretations that are adequate to guarantee respect for principles such as the principle of maximum disclosure, a presumption of publicity with respect to meetings and official documents...."[8] The Office of the Special Rapporteur will continue to observe the process of implementing that law, which is necessary, as a practical matter, for the law to come fully into force.
[1] The anonymous threats were apparently related to an interview with one of the generals of the Ecuadorian armed forces concerning possible arms trafficking in which Army involvement was suspected.
[2] Two armed men shot at Carlos Muñoz Insúa’s car; he was not injured.
[3] Agence France Presse, at Reporters without Borders, February 13, 2004, www.rsf.fr.
[4] International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), February 13, 2004, Reporters without Borders, February 13, 2004, at www.rsf.org.
[5] The journalists were trying to interview some of the women in prison when they were taken, but they were allowed to continue to broadcast. On April 8, however, Teleamazonas decided not to continue disseminating information from the prison until the team was released.
[6] Committee to Protect Journalists, April 14, 2004, at www.cpj.org.
[7] La Hora, "Corte Analiza recurso de Casación en Caso Fierro Benítez" (www.lahora.com.ec), January 23 2004, Committee to Protect Journalists, “La Corte Suprema ratifica sentencia contra periodista,” November 11, 2004, at www.cpj.org.
[8] Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Press Release PREN/106/04; http:www.cidh.org/Office of the Special Rapporteur/Spanish/Compren10604.htm.