<a href=www.rsf.org>Reporteros sin Fronteras
Un año después del intento de golpe de Estado del 11 de abril, Reporteros sin Fronteras publica un informe sobre el estado de la libertad de prensa en el país
Un año después del 11 de abril de 2002, y del intento de golpe de Estado, durante el cual el presidente Hugo Chávez fue desposeído del poder durante cuarenta y ocho horas, Reporteros sin Fronteras vuelve a hablar de los atentados a la libertad de prensa, perpetrados en el país desde el comienzo del mandato del presidente Chávez, en febrero de 1999.
Al final de su informe, titulado "Entre el autoritarismo del Presidente y la intolerancia de los medios de comunicación" (disponible en www.rsf.org), la organización subraya que "la principal responsabilidad en la degradación de la situación de la libertad de prensa, corresponde al presidente Chávez, y a su gobierno". Denuncia las repetidas agresiones a periodistas de la prensa privada, por parte de algunos partidarios del Presidente. Denuncia igualmente la "ofensiva" que éste ha encabezado contra la prensa, desde enero de 2003 : peligro de cierre de varios canales privados, restablecimiento del control de cambios que amenaza el aprovisionamiento de papel para la prensa escrita, presiones fiscales ejercidas sobre los medios de comunicación, adopción de una ley liberticida para la prensa...Reporteros sin Fronteras formula algunas recomendaciones a las autoridades, sobre cada uno de estos atentados a la libertad de prensa.
La organización analiza también las graves faltas a la deontología, cometidas por la prensa privada que, desde hace varios meses, está comprometida en una oposición frontal contra el Presidente. "Lo paradójico es que la prensa privada, que al mismo tiempo se erige en defensora de la libertad de prensa frente al Presidente, no vería con malos ojos el cierre (de los medios de comunicación considerados cercanos a él)".
Reporteros sin Fronteras precisa que "la situación de la libertad de prensa se ha vuelto de lo más delicada, desde que la prensa privada tomó abiertamente partido contra el gobierno. Aunque se trata de un derecho indiscutible, los excesos a que se ha librado debilitan la libertad de prensa".
Reporteros sin Fronteras formula, por tanto, dos recomendaciones dirigidas a los responsables de los medios de comunicación, reclamando mayor respeto a la deontología profesional y una condena sin equívocos de cualquier agresión a periodistas "incluso, está claro, cuando las víctimas trabajan para medios favorables al presidente Chávez".
El informe de Reporteros sin Fronteras se ha realizado sobre la base de informaciones recogidas por la organización desde hace cuatro años, y en el transcurso de una misión, llevada a cabo en el país entre el 11 y el 18 de febrero de 2003. En esa ocasión, dos representantes de Reporteros sin Fronteras pudieron entrevistarse con periodistas, direcciones y servicios jurídicos de los medios de comunicación privados, periodistas de la prensa pública, periodistas de medios comunitarios, corresponsales de la prensa extranjera, el director de Conatel (entidad pública encargada de regular las licencias concedidas por el Estado), y miembros de la oposición. Reporteros sin Fronteras lamenta que ni el Presidente, ni ningún miembro del gobierno, hayan respondido a sus peticiones de entrevistas.
Leer/Descargar el informe completo en .pdf :
Informe Venezuela
Entre el autoritarismo del Presidente y la intolerancia de los medios de comunicación - Abril de 2003
Informe RSF Venezuela Abril 03
(application/pdf, 146 KB)
(PDF, 146.2 ko)
Reporteros sin Fronteras (RSF) defiende a los periodistas encarcelados y la libertad de prensa en el mundo, o sea el derecho de informar y estar informado, en conformidad con el artículo 19 de la Déclaración Universal de Derechos Humanos. RSF cuenta con nueve secciones nacionales (Alemania, Austria, Bélgica, España, Francia, Reino Unido, Italia, Suecia y Suiza), con representaciones en Abidyán, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Estambul, Montreal, Moscú, Nueva York, Tokio, y Washington, y con un centenar de corresponsales en el mundo.
Chicago Sun Times
Kids, if you're going to pursue a career in diplomacy, don't follow this man's example:
Our ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, had to apologize to the government the other day for hosting a news conference that featured a female impersonator and a puppet of President Hugo Chavez.
Maybe Shapiro wants to host "Saturday Night Live" as his next gig.
<a href=www.voanews.com>AP-Voa News
Sharon Stevenson
Lima, Peru
23 May 2003, 04:48 UTC
From right to left, Venezuelan Foriegn Minister Areavalo Mendez, Bolovian President Gonzalo Sanchez, Peru's President Alejandro Toledo and Ecudorean President Lucio Gutierrez pose for reporters ahead of the Rio Group summitPresidents of the 19 nation Rio Group arrived in Peru's Cuzco for their annual summit amid a nationwide teachers' strike, highlighting one of the pressing topics of discussion, how to govern with huge populations mired in hard-core poverty and clamoring for a better life.
Leaders arriving from all over Latin America were greeted with the smell of teargas as they entered the famed Inca city in the Andean highlands where striking teachers are pushing their demands.
Meeting behind closed doors in Cuzco they will have a chance to discuss their options for coping with ongoing economic hardship and political instability. Or as one analyst put it, how to govern a country whose people are unhappy.
Presidential authority is increasingly under pressure in Latin America. In Venezuela President Hugo Chavez' opposition still calls for his ouster. Argentina's economic discontent recently helped to force out President Fernando de la Rua. And in Peru, President Alejandro Toledo's popularity has plummeted to 14 percent, as multiple sectors punish him for unfilled campaign promises of more jobs with crippling strikes.
The group of 14 Latin American leaders attending the Cuzco summit are expected to hash over how to strengthen their weakened democratic institutions and political party systems.
But the global concern with terror will also be discussed during the two-day Rio Group summit. As Colombia's war against its two guerrilla groups spills over its borders, the specter of those guerrilla groups exacerbating civil unrest in neighboring countries is a growing concern.
The meeting is expected to conclude with a document called the Cuzco Consensus, pulling together the conclusions of the two-day summit.
OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva has said that he was satisfied with current oil prices and that the oil cartel was preparing to cut output in June in line with new quotas approved last month.
"Today we can say that the market has recuperated and is showing stable levels", Silva was quoted as telling Venezuela's official state news agency , adding prices were now in "good health".
The value of OPEC's basket of crude on Monday was around $26.24, within the cartel's preferred price band of $22 to $28 a barrel, after dipping as low as $23 a barrel after the war in Iraq, the ex-Venezuelan oil minister said.
The oil cartel is also preparing to implement production quotas - agreed by OPEC in late April and which will take effect on June 1 - aimed at wiping out a perceived two million barrel bpd oversupply in global crude markets, Silva said.
Oil prices spiked near $40 a barrel earlier this year ahead of the U.S. war in Iraq and following a crippling oil strike in Venezuela during December and January that temporarily shut down the OPEC nation's crude and product exports.
But prices have fallen nearly 30 percent in the last two months as Iraq's oil facilities escaped heavy damage from the war and OPEC raised output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi oil exports.
Silva said Venezuela's oil production had recovered from the oil strike, started Dec. 2 by foes of President Hugo Chavez, and that South American nation was pumping up to itsOPEC quota.
Venezuela has an official OPEC ceiling of 2.923 million barrels per day (bpd), but government officials say production is closer to 3.1 million bpd.
22 May 2003 22:55:01 GMT
BOGOTA, Colombia, May 22 (Reuters) - Colombian troops killed at least 29 Marxist rebels as they pushed into drug- and arms-smuggling areas in the country's eastern jungles on Thursday, the army said.
One soldier was killed in the battle in Vichada province, near Venezuela, in one of the heaviest blows landed by the U.S.-backed armed forces against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for months, military spokesmen told Reuters.
The victory comes after a terrible month for the army, which began with a botched hostage rescue attempt and continued this week with news that 140 soldiers had divided up millions of dollars found in a secret rebel cache and run away.
The rebel army known by the Spanish initials FARC is fighting a four-decade-old war. Thousands of people are killed every year.
The FARC says it wants socialist revolution and funds itself by kidnapping and "taxing" the cocaine trade.
The government says the jungles of Vichada are a major route for smuggling drugs and arms.