Americas

Panama City, Panama, September 8, 1999–A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met with newly inaugurated president Mireya Moscoso this morning and urged her to repeal the country’s notorious “gag laws,” which criminalize the practice of journalism in Panama. The gag laws date largely from military governments of the 1970s and 1980s. They…

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to urge you to investigate the provenance of a pamphlet containing threats against journalists and other intellectuals that started circulating in the streets of Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín earlier this month. The pamphlet, signed “Colombian Rebel Army (ERC),” accuses 21 intellectuals, among them three journalists, of being enemies of Colombia’s peace process. The pamphlet reads: “These sinister figures feed the war between Colombians, foment hatred and class struggle, live off the war … They will pay for the destruction of the peace process.”

August 13, 1999 His Excellency Andrés Pastrana Arango President of the Republic of Colombia Casa de Narino Santa Fe de Bogotá, COLOMBIA Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep sorrow over today’s cold-blooded murder of radio journalist Jaime Garzón, one of Colombia’s most popular political humorists. CPJ urges…

Guatemala and El Salvador have both emerged from bloody civil wars fought between conservative central governments and leftist insurgents. And in both countries, the press is beginning to show signs of independence.

Guatemala y El Salvador vienen levantando cabeza de sendas guerras sangrientas libradas entre gobiernos conservadores de persuasión centralista e insurgentes izquierdistas. Y en ambos países, la prensa comienza a dar señales de independencia.

July 28, 1999 –On July 28, two days after the Minister of Government and Justice withdrew her proposed amendment to a 1978 gag law in the face of national and international criticism, the Panamanian Cabinet approved an only slightly different amendment to the law. As a July 30 editorial of the Panama City-based daily La…

El 28 de julio, dos días después de que el Ministerio de Gobierno y Justicia retirara un proyecto para modificar una ley mordaza de 1978 ante protestas a nivel nacional e internacional, el Gabinete panameño aprobó un proyecto casi igual. Como dice un editorial del periódico La Prensa,de la ciudad de Panamá, el nuevo proyecto…

July 26, 1999 His Excellency Ernesto Pérez Balladares President of Panama Presidential Palace Panama City, Panama Fax: 507-227-0073 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the criminal prosecution of Orlanda Obad, a Croatian journalist with the independent political daily Jutarnji List, who was charged with violating Article 295 of the Croatian…

July 26, 1999 His Excellency Ernesto Pérez Balladares President of Panama Presidential Palace Panama City, Panama Fax: 507-227-0073 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its dismay over proposed legislation that, while masquerading as an effort to reform Panama’s onerous “gag laws,” is actually a further assault on press freedom.

26 de Julio de 1999 Su Excelencia Ernesto Pérez Balladares Presidente de Panamá Palacio Presidencial Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá facsimil: 507-227-0073 Su Excelencia, El Comité para Proteger a los Periodistas (CPJ, por sus siglas en inglés) le escribe para expresar su profundo descontento en relación a una legislación recientemente propuesta que ha sido maquillada como…