COSTA RICA

Country Summary

In an unprecedented ruling on June 7, the Constitutional Court of Costa Rica decided that a congressman who had sued the San José-based daily La Repœblica had the right to reply to a news article about him. The ruling raised serious concerns about editorial autonomy. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Carlos Fernández, deputy chief of the Social Christian Unity Party, according to a report by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). In its April 18 edition, La Repœblica published an article saying that Fernández, an attorney, had been suspended for a year from practicing as a notary public as a result of complaints from clients. Fernández had appealed the decision. After the article was published, the suspension was reduced to eight days. Fernández, who did not respond to reporters’ telephone calls prior to the article’s publication, demanded that La Repœblica print a correction written by him in the news section of the paper, where the original article had appeared. Instead, La Repœblica published Fernández’s response on its opinion pages. In the June 7 decision, the court ruled that the paper had to run the correction, along with a photograph of Fernández, on the same page as the original article. The newspaper complied on July 12.

In another development, Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres signed an executive decree, effective May 7, classifying as “state secrets” some documents related to police efforts to control drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the IAPA, the decree carries a penalty of up to six years in prison for anyone who makes these documents public.

The good news for journalists was that the Costa Rican Supreme Court upheld its May 1995 landmark decision declaring the licensing of journalists unconstitutional, despite appeals to overturn the decision.

For more information contact americasweb@cpj.org