New York, December 21, 1999 — Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso signed a bill yesterday eliminating two of the country’s “gag laws,” which have been used to stifle press freedom. Moscoso described the gag laws as a “sword of Damocles hanging over the media in Panama” and pledged to work for the elimination of the other…
New York, December 1, 1999 — In a major step forward for press freedom in Panama, the country’s Legislative Assembly approved a bill repealing some of the more onerous provisions of the country’s “gag laws.” The new bill, passed last night with the approval of 70 of the Legislative Assembly’s 71 members, repeals part of…
October 26, 1999 — CPJ is alarmed about a defamation campaign being waged against Gustavo Gorriti, the Peruvian-born associate editor of the leading Panama City daily La Prensa. Earlier this month, a mysterious organization called the “Committee for Freedom of Expression in Panama” put up posters all around Panama City that showed Gorriti’s face with…
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…
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…
March 4, 1999 His Excellency Ernesto Pérez Balladares President of Panama Presidential Palace Panama City, Panama Your Excellency, Prompted by a sharp increase in prosecutions of Panamanian journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to strongly condemn Panama’s “gag laws” as a threat to press freedom, a violation of international law, and a…