U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

56–996PDF 2010

PRESS FREEDOM IN THE AMERICAS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JUNE 16, 2010

Serial No. 111–103

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

LYNN WOOLSEY, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

BARBARA LEE, California 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DAVID SCOTT, Georgia 

JIM COSTA, California 

KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota 

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona 

RON KLEIN, Florida 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

RON PAUL, Texas 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona 

ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee 

BARBARA LEE, California 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

RON KLEIN, Florida 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

RON PAUL, Texas 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Mr. Joel Simon, Executive Director, Committee to Protect Journalists ............. 9

Mr. Marcel Granier, President and Director General, Radio Caracas 

Televisio ́n Internacional (RCTV) ........................................................................ 14

Alejandra Nun ̃ o, J.D., Program Director for Central America and Mexico, 

Center for Justice and International Law ......................................................... 15

Mr. Eduardo Enriquez, Managing Editor, La Prensa .......................................... 25

Mr. Alejandro Aguirre, President, Inter American Press Association, Deputy 

Editor and Publisher, Diario Las Americas ....................................................... 32

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Eliot L. Engel, a Representative in Congress from the State 

of New York, and Chairman, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere: 

Prepared statement .............................................................................................. 7

Mr. Joel Simon: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 11

Alejandra Nun ̃ o, J.D.: Prepared statement ........................................................... 18

Mr. Eduardo Enriquez: Prepared statement ......................................................... 27

Mr. Alejandro Aguirre: Prepared statement ......................................................... 34

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 48

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 50

The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from 

American Samoa: Prepared statement ............................................................... 51

Written responses from Mr. Joel Simon to questions submitted for the record 

by the Honorable Eliot L. Engel ......................................................................... 54

(1)

PRESS FREEDOM IN THE AMERICAS 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2010

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:23 p.m. in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Eliot L. 

Engel, (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. ENGEL. Good afternoon. On World Press Freedom Day last 

month, President Obama brought attention to an issue that far too 

often goes unnoticed. He said that ‘‘last year was a bad one for the 

freedom of the press worldwide’’ and ‘‘more media workers were 

killed for their work last year than any year in recent history.’’

Unfortunately, this is particularly true here in the Americas 

where press freedom has been deteriorating over the past few 

years. I called today’s briefing and hearing to shed light on this disturbing trend. 

When nine journalists are murdered in Honduras in 51⁄2 months 

making the small country the most dangerous one for journalists 

in the hemisphere, or when Mexico’s drug cartels brutally murder 

members of the press for reporting on the drug trade, we cannot 

sit idly by. 

When Venezuelan President Hugh Chavez shuts down opposition 

TV and radio stations and intimidates journalists and media owners who express dissent, we all have a responsibility to speak out. 

And certainly, we must continue to shed light on the stark state 

of the press in Cuba—a country with one of the worst media environments in the world where 25 of the estimated 200 political prisoners are independent journalists. 

These are just a few of the most troubling examples of the breakdown in press freedom that we see in the Americas, and I hope 

that we will have a chance to examine these trends more closely. 

While most of us in the Inter-American community are quick to 

speak out when electoral democracy is in peril, we sometimes neglect to raise up our voices when other fundamental aspects of democracy are at risk, including the free and independent press. 

Yet, in reading the Inter-American Democratic Charter—a charter agreed to on September 11, 2001 by every country in the hemisphere except Cuba—we understand that democracy is about much 

more than just elections. Of course, free and fair elections are essential. But, the Inter-American Democratic Charter must also be 

utilized to ensure that fundamental freedoms and democratic 

norms are safeguarded. This means that we must speak out when 

2

the press is under attack in the hemisphere as freedom of the press 

is as essential tenet in any democracy. 

I am particularly pleased to welcome OAS Special Rapporteur for 

Freedom of Expression, Catalina Botero who will brief the committee prior to our hearing. Ms. Botero, your office does tremendous work in highlighting the breakdowns in press freedom in this 

hemisphere and we all look forward to hearing from you. And after 

the briefing is over I will introduce our hearing witnesses. 

So I thank you and I am now pleased to call on Ranking Member 

Mack for his opening statement. 

Mr. MACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

First, I would like to thank your witnesses for being here to 

share their experiences and insight, especially our international 

guests who have made special arrangements to appear before us 

today. 

As a congressman in the United States, it is hard for me to imagine living without the freedom to speak freely and express my individual beliefs and those of my constituents. Freedom of expression 

is a cornerstone of democracy. The establishment of free press, one 

that provides oversight to government activities by disseminating 

information to citizens, is essential to a functioning democratic society. 

Less than 90 miles off the coast of my home state of Florida the 

people of Cuba lack these basic rights and continue to suffer under 

the iron-fisted regime of the Castro brothers. As we speak, Allen 

Gross, a U.S. citizen, is being held without charges at a high-security Cuban prison where he has been for over 6 months. His only 

crime—providing Internet access to the Jewish community living 

on the isolated island. 

Mr. Chairman, it is also necessary to draw attention to the continuing deterioration of press freedom in Venezuela which you just 

spoke about as well. Last Friday, the president of Globovision, a 

well-known opposition television station, was issued an arrest warrant for trumped-up charges generated after a 2009 raid of his residence. This is the second of such arrest warrants he has received 

this year, and he is not alone. 

The Government of Venezuela does not stop at arresting individuals who express contrary opinions. It works tirelessly to eliminate 

these opinions entirely. 

This past January the Government of Venezuela completely 

shutdown the Venezuela TV Station RCTV, finally achieving a goal 

it began in 2007. Today, I call on President Hugo Chavez to allow 

for free and fair legislative elections in September by removing the 

government’s interference in the media and stopping the intimidation of opposition voices. 

In addition to these severe cases of repression in Cuba and in 

Venezuela, countries throughout the Western Hemisphere continue 

to witness diverse threats to press freedom. Such treats occur 

through nationalization of the media outlets; the enactment of laws 

to restrict media freedom; recently seen in Argentina and Ecuador 

lax prosecution on behalf of the government in media intimidation 

cases; and direct government harassment of reporters and journalists. 

3

Given the levels of press freedom often act as an indication of the 

broader trend of political and social freedoms within a country. We 

must take into consideration the other factors that play within 

these countries. For example, in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, attacks on journalists are regularly tied to the reporting on 

drug trafficking organizations and criminal gangs. 

As we work with governments in the region to be more vigilant 

in their prosecution of crimes targeting journalists and the media, 

it is important that we address the role of these criminal organizations. It is also critical that we recognize the vast improvements 

made in some countries such as Colombia. 

As we hear from our witnesses today, I will be looking for ways 

to expand upon such progress in our hemisphere and to ensure 

that the recent trends in Honduras and Venezuela do not become 

the norm. I would also like to discuss the role of new media in the 

effort to ensure continued access to free media sources. 

When I hear of the courageous blogger in Cuba who against all 

odds continue to tell their story to the outside world, I am confident 

that technological innovations has the power to stifle government 

efforts to intimidate and shut out opposition. 

I look forward to the discussion, Mr. Chairman, today. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I want to thank everyone 

for being here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ENGEL. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mack, and now for 

an opening statement, Mr. Sires. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding today’s hearing. 

Freedom of the press should be a critical requirement for the development and stability of a democratic nation. It offers citizens 

greater opportunities to inform themselves, express their personal 

views, and empower them to pursue social justice. Without it, no 

country can truly enjoy the benefits of a vibrant democracy. Journalists who report in some countries in the Hemisphere face increasing volatile and dangerous conditions where they not only face 

dire threats to their personal security from gangs and organized 

crime groups, but also face government intimidation and the continuous rollback of press freedoms. 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Freedom House has characterized Cuba and Venezuela as not free. The government and its 

leaders continue to undermine democracy as they suppress freedoms on a daily basis by closing the media outlets that don’t conform to their beliefs and imprisoning innocent reporters. 

Today in Cuba 22 journalists are in prison. In a ranking of countries with the most jailed journalists, Cuba was ranked third, just 

under China and Iran. Similarly, Venezuela faces extensive censorship of both media and press. Freedom of speech and the press 

while constitutionally guaranteed has been increasingly eroded 

with numerous restrictions. Due to these restrictions, we have already seen the closing of numerous radio stations and RC TV. Additionally, the Venezuelan regime continue to harass journalists to 

the point that self-censorship is the only option to avoid serious 

danger. 

Additionally, many countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, face increased self-censorship of the media when covering 

4

stories relating to organized crime. We must continue to support 

and protect the work of journalists in the region and decrease the 

power criminal organizations have over freedom of information. 

Freedom of the press is a fundamental right that all countries 

should respect. 

I thank Ms. Marino for her briefing and I thank the chairman 

for holding this hearing. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Mr. Sires, and now for an opening statement, Mr. Smith. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Ranking 

Member for scheduling this very important hearing. 

Article 13 of the American Convention for Human Rights clearly 

states that,

‘‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression, 

this writing includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds regardless of frontiers, either 

orally, in writing, in the print, in the form of art, or through 

any other medium of one’s choice, and most importantly, that 

this right shall not be subject to prior censorship.’’

Mr. Chairman, it is not an overstatement to say that freedom, 

the freedom of any people depends upon the freedom of the press, 

and yet in a number of the countries in our hemisphere the press 

is not free and journalists are targeted for harassment, beatings, 

and frequently murdered. Those slain have often crossed local officials and their private sector cronies by uncovering corruption or 

investigating human rights abuses by their governments. Some 

have just dared to criticize their government. 

Through action or inaction, impunity or censorship, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Honduras, in particular, have been forgetting their obligations under Article 13, and the basic necessity of 

a free press to a healthy nation. Cuba, in its paranoid grip on its 

citizens, has been imprisoning and torturing journalists for decades. 

Mr. Chairman, journalists are also affected by the sad trend of 

recent years, to transform the Internet into a tool of censorship and 

surveillance. With the Internet has come new power for the people 

to share information and hold power to account, and thus a new 

target for the abuse by those who hold power. 

Formerly oppressed and silent groups have used this new media 

to their advantage, El National reported that in August 2009, Hugo 

Chavez dubbed twitter a new agent of terror after a massive turn 

of tweets under the tag ‘‘free media VA,’’ criticized his government 

for censoring the Venezuelan media, and Chavez has been openly 

contemplating censorship and control, probably with the held, as 

we are seeing all over the world, including in Belarus, with the 

help of the Chinese cyber police who have perfected worst practices 

on how to control any dissidents in their country. 

Mr. Chairman, we do have a bill pending in this committee, I am 

the sponsor, called the ‘‘Global Online Freedom Act’’ backed by virtually every human rights organization, including Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, and even Google. It requires our IT companies when 

they are in an Internet-repressive country to disclose what it is 

5

they are censoring and to put beyond reach of a secret police personally identifiable information so that when somebody goes on line 

and they perhaps use e-mail, that e-mail is not intercepted by the 

secret police to find them, apprehend them, and then incarcerate 

them, especially as they do in the PRC. 

I hope that we can take a look at that bill sometime very soon 

before this Congress completes its sitting because we need to help 

those w ho want to use the Internet as an opening rather than 

what it is becoming in some of these countries as a tool of repression. 

I yield back and thank you. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Now we have been joined by 

Mr. Rohrabacher. I call on him for an opening statement. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

I take special interest in this, particularly over emphasis on 

human rights, because unlike many of my colleagues here in the 

United States Congress I am not a lawyer. In fact, that was the 

first most—that really was my strongest political slogan in my first 

campaign, ‘‘Vote for Dana, at least he is not a lawyer.’’

So how did I earn my living? I was a writer, and I started out 

as a journalist in southern California off and on for about 10 years 

before I joined Ronald Reagan in his efforts to become President, 

and he took me to the White House and I became a speech writer 

for a number of years. 

However, I never forgot my days as a journalist and I never forgot the dynamics that are at play at getting information to the people of this country, and how important that has been to our freedom, and if we do stand for freedom and democracy, we must understand that in none of these societies, especially in the Western 

Hemisphere, will there be freedom and prosperity unless we have 

a free press, unless people are able to ask tough questions, and 

make serious investigations into people who have power. 

And I look at that both personally as well as professionally, as 

well as I might say patriotically. That is what America is supposed 

to be about. If the United States is not for press and freedom and 

these other human rights, then what are we about? Are we just a 

combination of people who came here from all over the world in 

order to make money? I am afraid that is not it. The people came 

here from all over the world, yes, to live in prosperity, but essentially to live in freedom which led to prosperity, and there will be 

no prosperity without freedom and especially freedom of the press 

because it will be overwhelmed as it is in China and elsewhere. It 

will be overwhelmed by corruption. 

For the record, a sort of tangential issue, I would just like to express, Mr. Chairman, my disappointment that the current President of Honduras has decided to give into whatever pressures were 

put on him to suggest that he accepts the idea of the transfer of 

power that happened leading up to his election was in some way 

a coup rather than a protection of constitutional rights by the Supreme Court and the military of that country as well as the Parliament of Honduras. 

Apparently he recently uttered the words, ‘‘Yes, it was a coup.’’ 

And I am really worried what pressures caused this man to do 

6

that. What threats were made on the President of Honduras? Did 

our embassy threaten this? 

In fact, when I was visiting Honduras, Mr. Chairman, I suggested that the best thing for Honduras and everyone would be to 

close the books, recognize there had been a free election, and move 

on looking forward rather than looking back and try to fight battles 

of the past. Obviously some people have been putting pressure on 

President Lobo to do the opposite, and I would hope that whether 

it is—whatever we are talking about, whatever government we are 

talking about, we are not talking about a fight against evil things 

in which we will then seek vengeance on people who actually were 

engaged in repressing reporters and things such as that. 

What we want to do is build a free world and we have got to enlist people who are on the other side, meaning people who are on 

the side of the tyrants, to join in and to create a better place, and 

you don’t do that by just re-hashing everything that happened in 

the past, but what we have to do is make sure in the present everybody is on the record as to what direction we want to go. 

So this is a way to do it, this hearing; very proud to stand with 

my fellow members, especially Chris Smith, we have been fighting 

on human rights issues for 20 years together, and this issue, freedom of press in this hemisphere is of utmost importance because 

it will—it will ensure prosperity and peace as well as freedom, so 

thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher, and now it is my 

pleasure to introduce Catalina Botero, the Special Rapporteur for 

Freedom of Expression at the Inter-American Commission on 

Human Rights since 2008. 

Ms. Botero previously held several prestigious positions in Colombia. She served as an assistant judge with the Constitutional 

Code of Colombia from 1995 to 2000, and again from 2005 to 2008. 

As Special Rapporteur, we have all been impressed by your willingness to constructively point out both the deficits in press freedom 

in the region and the progress made in certain countries. 

I was particularly pleased by your recent annual report on press 

freedom which provided an excellent summary of related concerns 

in the hemisphere. 

Ms. Botero, thank you for joining us today. The floor is yours to 

brief members of the subcommittee. 

[Recess.] 

Mr. ENGEL. A quorum being present, the Subcommittee on the 

Western Hemisphere will come to order. I have already delivered 

my opening statement, but I would like to insert my statement and 

all members’ opening statements into the record, and without objection I will do so. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Engel follows:]

7


56996f-1.eps
8


56996f-2.eps
9

Mr. ENGEL. I am now pleased to introduce our distinguished witnesses, and I ask them to take their seats. Joel Simon is executive 

director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Marcel 

Granier is president and director general of Radio Caracas Television International, better known to most of us as RCTV. 

Alejandra Nuno is program director for Central America and Mexico at the Center for Justice and International Law, CEJIL. Next 

Eduardo Enriquez is managing editor of La Prensa in Nicaragua, 

and last but certainly not least, Alejandro Aguirre is president of 

the Inter American Press Association, IAPA, and deputy editor and 

publisher of Diario Las Americas. 

Welcome to all of you. We appreciate it, and let me just ask you 

to, each one of you to please—we will submit your testimony into 

the record, if we could ask you to summarize your testimony in 5 

minutes, and I will keep a close tally. Mr. Simon, we will start with 

you. 

STATEMENT OF MR. JOEL SIMON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS 

Mr. SIMON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members 

of the committee. I will do my best to be brief. I note that the members of the committee are exceptionally well informed on these 

issues based on their opening statements so you will pardon me if 

I tread over some ground which has already been raised by committee members. 

What I really want to start out by pointing out is that I have 

been in my position at CPJ for more than a decade. I started out 

monitoring Latin America. I now have global responsibilities as executive director, and what I have seen is that while democracy has 

become firmly entrenched in much of Latin America, the press continues to operate with few institutional protections, and despite the 

strong tradition of independent and critical media in so many countries in the region, journalists are increasingly vulnerable to both 

government repression and violence. 

We are going to hear from witnesses in two countries, Venezuela 

and Nicaragua, where governments are pursuing effective strategies of marginalizing and even vilifying the media while using control of government institutions, including the judiciary, to carry out 

legal action against critics. We published a very detailed report 

about the activities of President Daniel Ortega, which I have entered into the record. Ortega has set the tone in Nicaragua by calling journals ‘‘sons of Goebbels.’’ Critics have faced punitive tax 

raids and criminal defamation suits. 

In Venezuela, President Chavez has employed a similar strategy, 

vilifying the press while using politicized—administrative procedures to force critical broadcasters off the air. We have talked 

about Mr. Zuloaga. The AP is reporting that he has now left Venezuela in order to avoid arrest. 

Journalists in these countries face government harassment and 

in other parts of the region the problem is government neglect, and 

that is really the case in Mexico where the situation is extremely 

dramatic. Thirty journalists have been killed or disappeared since 

President Felipe Calderon came to office. Most of these are local reporters covering drug trafficking, crime or corruption, exactly as 

10

the Congressman pointed out, and impunity in these cases is near 

complete, and it is creating a pervasive culture of self-censorship, 

which is having a devastating effect on the basic rights of freedom 

of expression in Mexico. 

I do want to point out, however, one case involving a U.S. reporter, Brad Will, who was shot and killed in 2006 while covering 

protests in Oaxaca, and there is a video of that incident which appears to show a man later identified as a member of the pro-government militia firing a weapon directly at Will, and despite this 

very clear evidence no one has been convicted in that killing. 

We talked a little bit about Honduras. Seven journalists have 

been killed there since the beginning of the year. That has also 

been getting attention, and in regards to some of the questions that 

have been asked here, we are carrying out a detailed report. We 

have a person who just completed his investigation and will be 

issuing a detailed report on the nature of those killings shortly. 

Colombia, we talked a little bit about Colombia. Colombia has 

made some improvements in terms of reduction of violence. I do 

want to point out one issue that has concerned us, which has been 

mentioned, the adversarial relationship which President Uribe has 

had with the press, and also a very distressing scandal in which 

it was revealed that the DAS, which is the national security agency, had been wire tapping political opponents, magistrates, human 

rights activists, and journalists. CPJ’s own e-mails were intercepted. 

Subsequently several senior DAS officials were arrested and we 

met with President Uribe to discuss this issue, and he told us ‘‘Illegal spies are enemies of Colombia.’’

I want to finally mention Cuba, far and away the most repressive 

environment for the press in Latin America as mentioned; one of 

the worst in the world. Twenty-two journalists are in jail, ranked 

only behind Iran and China. Now, there were some modest hopes 

at one time when Fidel Castro stepped inside. We have not seen 

any changes in Cuba under Raul Castro, I want to make that clear. 

One thing I do want to mention in relation to the small incipient 

blogging culture in Cuba. It has been officially tolerated to a certain extent, and I do want to commend President Obama for giving 

an e-mail interview to a Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez, shortly 

after she was detained and beaten by Cuban security agents in November. That was an important gesture. 

So I want to conclude just by saying that efforts by the United 

States Government to protect and promote press freedom are vital 

because we live in an information society. Those who are deprived 

of basic information are, in essence, marginalized. So the freedom 

to seek and receive information is not only a human right in this 

era. It is a prerequisite to full participation in the global economy, 

and that is why these hearings today are so important. Thank you 

very much. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Simon follows:]

11


56996b-1.eps
12


56996b-2.eps
13


56996b-3.eps
14

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Simon. Mr. Granier. 

STATEMENT OF MR. MARCEL GRANIER, PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR GENERAL, RADIO CARACAS TELEVISIO ́ N 

INTERNACIONAL (RCTV) 

Mr. GRANIER. Thank you, Mr. Engel, and members of the subcommittee for this invitation to talk about things that would not 

be broadcast in Venezuela nowadays because of the censorship and 

the fear that exists over there. 

You asked me is there freedom of expression in Venezuela, my 

answer is no. Why do I say no? Because there are consequences to 

what you say that you cannot control. The judiciary power is fully 

controlled by the government. Most of the judges in Venezuela are 

provisional, and therefore they can be changed at will by the authorities. 

The government also controls six television networks and hundreds of radio stations that it uses in a very efficient and political 

way: Not to inform people but to criminalize everybody who dares 

have an opinion different to the government or to the Presidents. 

In the last 10 years, there have been about 150,000 murders in 

Venezuela. That is ten times more than in the previous period. Of 

those 150,000 homicides, only 3 percent have ended with a conviction, and less than 10 percent have ever even been brought to 

court. Therefore there are more than 140,000 homicides walking 

around in the streets of Venezuela. 

Among those people murdered, there are more than 20 journalists or editors. What do they have in common? They were covering 

issues regarding corruption in the government or issues regarding 

drug trafficking and the involvement of high officers in such drug 

trafficking. There is absolutely no transparency in Venezuelan public affairs. For example, nobody in Venezuela knows for sure how 

much oil do we produce, how much does Venezuela have in reserves, and, of course, nobody knows what is happening without 

those 140,000 murders that walk freely in our streets. 

There is no balance of powers. When the government decided to 

shut RCTV down, we went to the Supreme Court of justice. We 

have been waiting for 3 years for their decision. Nothing, no answer at all. The second time when they shutdown RCTV International there was not even a procedure. The just scared off the 

cable and satellite providers and those companies, private companies, some of them listed in the New York Stock Exchange or in 

the European Stock Exchanges were so scared to lose their privileges that they decided, okay, to take us off the air without any 

kind of due process of right to defend ourselves or anything similar 

to that. 

There is no presumption of evidence. Mr. Zuloaga who you mentioned awhile ago was first arrested without even a procedure open 

against him. The procedure was open 3 hours after he was arrested. 

So what do I think of this situation? I think perhaps we have the 

right to express ourselves but we don’t have the right to seek information of what we think is relevant. We have to fear the consequences. We don’t know what the consequences are because they 

15

change the laws, they change the procedures. Sometimes they act 

even before accusing you of anything. 

We are also in fear of the Cuban intelligence services. In Venezuela, which is a very unusual case, the immigration, the identification systems are controlled by the Cubans under a legal agreement that President Chavez signed with President Castro. The 

same applies to all public registries, marriages, birth, death, property, all those are controlled by Cuban agents. 

Representative Smith was asking about China and the Internet. 

I don’t know what exactly is going on there but I can tell you that 

Venezuela and China have signed hundreds of agreements. Venezuela owes China billions of dollars and you see a lot of Chinese 

people in Venezuela nowadays, and they are highly involved in the 

telecommunications. They hold the largest contracts with the telephone companies that controls the Internet in Venezuela. 

I think I am out of time. 

[NOTE: Mr. Granier did not submit a prepared statement.] 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Granier. Ms. Nuno. 

STATEMENT OF ALEJANDRA NUN ̃ O, J.D., PROGRAM DIRECTOR 

FOR CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO, CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 

Ms. NUNO. I think we are all learning here how to use the microphones. 

Chairman Engel and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting the Center for Justice and International Law to testify on press freedom in Honduras today. 

My name is Alejandra Nuno, program director for Central America and Mexico. CJIL is a nongovernmental organization dedicated 

since 1991 to defending and promoting human rights in the American constitute through the strategic use of tools offered by international human rights law. We applaud this committee for calling 

this timely hearing and for including Honduras as one of the countries in the Americas where press freedom is much under threat. 

We share the committee’s concern about threats to freedom of 

press situation in Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela and would add 

Cuba to the list of nations where this right is severely restricted. 

Press freedoms have been limited in Honduras for many years, 

but 2010 has seen a bad situation become more worse, much worse. 

Honduras became this year the most dangerous country for journalists in the continent, while Mexico, with a population of more 

than 110 million, four journalists have been killed in 2010; in Honduras with less than 8 million, eight journalists have been shot to 

death this year. 

I must point out that freedom of expression watchdogs have been 

long criticized Honduran how far it is for efforts to control or intimidate the media, including the use of public contracts to punish 

or reward media for the content and paid individual reporters for 

favorable coverage. 

Regarding a previous question, from 2003 to 2009, the CPJ announced three deaths related to the exercise in journalism in Honduras. After the army forces then President Zelaya to go to Costa 

Rica on June 28, the new authority imposed severe restrictions on 

the media in order to stifle opposition to the coup. 

16

Several station channels and radio stations were occupied by the 

military and forced to suspend operations. Others were unable to 

report events on the air due to power cuts or the seizure of related 

stations and transmitters. Others had their equipment confiscated. 

Many reporters were assaulted, detained or threatened. One radio 

reporter, Gabriel Fino Noriega of Estelar and Radio America, was 

shot dead on July 3rd as he left work. 

However, violence against journalists has reached an unprecedented level since this year. Many journalists continue to receive 

death threats related to their reporting. Several of these cases, including the persecution of journalist of Radio Progreso, La Voz del 

Occidente and La Voz de Zacate Grande are particularly urgent. 

These attacks on the media have a profoundly chilling effect on 

the free exchange of ideas in Honduras, making national reconciliation and the restoration of a meaningful democracy a distant 

dream. In Honduras, all branches of government bear responsibility when journalists face persecution. It is the duty to a state to 

prevent and the duty of the judiciary to investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators and to ensure that victims receive due compensation, an effective investigation along with other 

protective measures can indeed prevent murders and other violent 

incidents. 

Nonetheless, we are extremely concerned by signs that these 

murders will be added to the ever-growing list of cases remaining 

in impunity. 

As it has been mentioned before, at least seven journalists were 

murdered between March 1 and the end of April for reasons that 

maybe were related to their work. Seven journalists in 2 months, 

and those were killed on Monday. Those assassinated include TV 

journalist Joseph Hernandez Ochoa, Nahum Palacios, Jose Bayardo 

Mairena and just 2 days ago Luis Arturo Mondragon. In addition, 

radio journalists David Meza Montesinos, Manual Juarez, Jose 

Bayardo Mairena and add to this list, Luis Antonia Chevez Hernandez have been slain. 

None of the victims appear to have been robbed. Each was shot 

to death by unidentified men. Many had received threats related 

to their work. In the case of reporter Nahum Palacios, the Inter 

American Commission on Human Rights has called on Honduras to 

take urgent measures to protect his life as the Special Rapporteur 

just said. 

We have many recommendations for this subcommittee, but we 

will sum up in three. We urge the Members of the Congress to use 

its powers to effectively send a strong message to the branches of 

the Honduran Government that persecution of the media must 

stop, and is urging to bring to justice those responsible for the 

deaths and threats against journalists. 

Also, right now, there are many discussions as to whether Honduras should be permitted to rejoin the OIS. It would be a setback 

for press freedom and human rights in the hemisphere if that 

would be done without a minimum human rights conditions, and 

then to arbitrary interference with and persecution on the media 

and, of course, impunity. 

Last but not least, one important way to provide support for efforts to protect press freedoms and human rights in general would 

17

be the establishment of a local office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras. In my country, in Mexico, 

and many other places it has been an effective way to monitor the 

situation and to provide technical cooperation. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Nuno follows:]

18


56996c-1.eps
19


56996c-2.eps
20


56996c-3.eps
21


56996c-4.eps
22


56996c-5.eps
23


56996c-6.eps
24


56996c-7.eps
25

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Ms. Nuno. Mr. Enriquez. 

STATEMENT OF MR. EDUARDO ENRIQUEZ, MANAGING 

EDITOR, LA PRENSA 

Mr. ENRIQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I would like to start by saying that in Nicaragua it is living process; that is, demolishing our constitution, our laws and our institutions. In that process, of course, freedom of the press is in the way 

and the rigid freedom of the press has to stop in the views of the 

conversation. 

The government, after having been in power in 1980, learned the 

lessons of what we call prior censorship. It is not doing that anymore, but it is doing different things that in the end have the same 

results. I will limit to four different ways in which the government 

limits freedom of the press and freedom of expression. 

First is the policy of secrecy and lack of transparency. This was 

first expressed in a secret document called Communications Strategy that Ms. Rosario Murillo sent to her ministers at the beginning 

of the government in 2007. The document called for limitation of 

the discussion of any claims or items to the agenda that was of interest to the government, lack of complete communication with the 

free press, which was identified as enemy of the people, and the 

use of the official press for the direct contact with the people. So 

she said our message is uncontaminated. This strategy then means 

that we have no access to information. 

The other strategy they use is the Regulatory Office of Communications. By using this office they have been able to eliminate any 

criticism from television and hardly any criticism that exists in 

radio. One of the examples Jaime Arellano, a political commentator, was thrown out of Channel 10 due to government pressures, 

and then he started his program again in Channel 2, and it did not 

last more than 3 months before he was again thrown out. 

Radio La Ley, which belonged to a strong critic of the government, was not even allowed to go on the air, and Radio de 

Septiembre was basically bankrupt due to pressures of the government. Other radio stations, they have been critical like 

Corpocacion, El Pensamiento and Radio Dario have suffered the 

same problems. 

The government is also using the budget for advertisement, 

which is controlled by Murillo since January 2007, not to give advertisement to any critical media. That does not affect much La 

Prensa or the big newspapers, but it has caused the closing of 

many small radio stations and news programs, especially in the interior of the country, and the daily newspapers are being harassed 

with the unconstitutional law that imposes a tax in the importation 

of paper which our constitution says that the import of paper 

should be free of import taxes, and the Arsai law named after Ardo 

Arsai, who was the one who enforced it or who pushed for it. What 

it does is to put a tax on this paper—on the paper that we have 

to import and has cost the price to hike, therefore less people are 

getting to read the papers and get information. If you add that to 

the problems of the TV stations, it is a problem that less people 

are getting free information. 

26

There is also the example of Channel 8 in which the government, 

basically Mr. Ortega and his business, Albanisa, which is in society 

with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but Channel 8 is one less independent outlet that we have in our country, and there is harassment that constantly Channel 4, which is also owned by Mr. Ortega, is not part of the government, it is owned by Mr. Ortega, it 

harasses critical journalism whenever they have the opportunity. 

Last, I will like to say that this scheme, Albanisa business that 

Ortega has with Mr. Hugo Chavez, is making him one of the richest men in the country, and he is trying to use his money to remain 

in power. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Enriquez follows:]

27


56996d-1.eps
28


56996d-2.eps
29


56996d-3.eps
30


56996d-4.eps
31


56996d-5.eps
32

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Enriquez. Mr. Aguirre. 

STATEMENT OF MR. ALEJANDRO AGUIRRE, PRESIDENT, 

INTER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION, DEPUTY EDITOR 

AND PUBLISHER, DIARIO LAS AMERICAS 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the 

committee. It is a great honor for me to be here today. 

My name is Alejandro Aguirre and I am the President of the 

Inter American Press Association based in Miami, Florida. I am 

also deputy editor and publisher of Diario Las Americas. 

The IAPA represents 1,200 newspapers and media outlets in the 

hemisphere. Since 1950, we have worked hard fulmenting a free 

flow of information and opinion in emerging democracies through 

various programs, including our Chapultepec program, assisting 

news outlets in developed democracies, as well as assisting journalists where new media are overtly or covertly suppressed, especially 

in the investigation of assassinations through our impunity project. 

In the last 10 years, political dynamics has changed to such a degree that many of the democratic successes achieved in the previous decades have been overturned and thousands of journalists in 

Latin America and the Caribbean are reporting under threat of incarceration or murder. 

The suppression of the free press is typically exercised in two 

was: Either through direct government-sponsored actions or 

through an almost total breakdown in civil society, in which terrorist groups and/or drug cartels intimidate journalists, at times 

aided by weak or corrupt local and law enforcement officials. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, you are very 

familiar with the various political realities in Latin America, and 

time constraints don’t permit me to go into many specific details 

here, but just let me say that the increase in media suppression in 

countries such as Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, 

Nicaragua, Brazil and others, and the murder of journalists in 

countries such as Mexico, Honduras and Colombia, are stifling the 

independent press as these actions are intended. 

But for the brave voices that continue to report in any way they 

can despite the consequences, the flow of information in many of 

these countries would be completely lost. These men and women 

face direct threats against them and their families, surveillance of 

their loved ones, and ultimately brutal kidnapping and murders. 

In Venezuela, the shutdown of RCTV is now in its third year, 34 

radio stations and five television stations have been closed. An arrest order was given for Mr. Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of 

Globovision, after President Chavez criticized him just last week. 

The order for arrest was made public the day the World Cup started. 

In Cuba, the half-century-old dictatorship allows no semblance of 

free speech as we know it. The women in white were physically attacked for demanding free speech as was the blogger Uani Sanchez, 

20 journalists remain in jails. Ecuador recently approved the communications law which, among other things, requires a mandatory 

membership to a national journalist association, prior censorship 

and a legal requirement to observe a government-mandated ethical 

33

conduct. These types of laws are becoming a disturbing trend in the 

hemisphere. 

We recognize President Obama for having expressed his concern 

for having freedom of the press directly to the President of Ecuador, as well as Secretary of State Clinton and Assistant Secretary 

Valancuella’s discussions on this issue with the Ecuadorian Government, and we applaud their efforts. 

There are a number of cases of judicial censorship in Venezuela, 

Peru and Argentina, and there is government censorship in Brazil 

in the newspaper O Estado. 

This not just a threat to these countries, but it is also a threat 

to nations which live by the tenets of freedom of speech and the 

press. The suppression of freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom 

everywhere. Specifically, the loss of a free press in Latin America, 

I believe, poses a direct threat to the interests of the United States. 

Organized crime flourishes in places where there is little or no 

journalistic activity. These activities then lead onto greater infiltration of illegal drugs and weapons, in many cases crossing over U.S. 

border. It creates an environment leading to the exodus of an economically viable population which becomes a desperate population 

fleeing their home countries out of fear for their lives. 

Since the beginning of this year, 12 journalists have been murdered, at least seven in Honduras, four in Mexico, and one in Colombia, and the whereabouts of six reporters who disappeared in 

Mexico on the same day remain unknown. The United States can 

continue to play a very important role in encouraging free press in 

the hemisphere and assisting those who are seeking to use their 

voice for the purpose of independent reporting. The role of the U.S. 

Government and continued attention by this subcommittee is critical in this effort for the sake of this nation and the free world because freedom of speech is the cornerstone of all democracies. 

Thank you again for this opportunity, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I look forward to any questions you may 

have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Aguirre follows:]

34


56996e-1.eps
35


56996e-2.eps
36


56996e-3.eps
37


56996e-4.eps
38


56996e-5.eps
39

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you very much, Mr. Aguirre, and let me start 

with Mr. Granier. 

You have given us a very graphic picture of the lack of press 

freedoms in Venezuela, basically confirming what many of us have 

heard and have been saying. The international community has 

been unified in condemning actions taken by President Chavez 

against RCTV, the European Union and the U.S. Senate both 

passed resolutions in support of RCTV, and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office 

on Latin America, have been outspoken. The Organization of American States’ independent human rights mechanisms also have stood 

in solidarity with you. 

What I am really asking basically is how can we help? What can 

we do? What more can the international community do to support 

you and other journalists and media owners in Venezuela? What 

would be most helpful because we are all concerned about it? As 

you can see it cuts across party lines. 

Mr. GRANIER. First of all, I would say we have an election coming on September 26. The government, through the electoral council, is not allowing international witnesses to come and watch the 

election. Perhaps the democratic parliaments from all over the 

world insisted on being present there, even if not invited, to see 

what is going on, to prevent any fraud, that would be very helpful. 

The Organization of American States, as Ms. Botero said, has 

two different concerns, so to say: One is the protection of human 

rights and we feel perfectly happy with all of the work they have 

done. The other is the political side of the Organization of American States which seems to be stifled and seems to be not help at 

all for democracy in the continent. 

I mean, I have been reading and actually the Secretary General 

gave me today another copy of the Inter American Democratic 

Chart, and I read it, and I ask myself what is the purpose of this 

chart. If we have violations against democracy and freedoms and 

rights happening in Venezuela, in Bolivia, in El Salvador, in Nicaragua, in Honduras, in so many places, in Cuba but Cuba is not 


56996e-6.eps
40

a member, so what is the purpose? He wrote us a very nice letter 

after the closure of RCTV International, the Secretary General, offering his mediation. 

I answered his letter accepting the mediation, and came to 

Washington to ask him further to go to Venezuela and to see what 

is happening there. I mean, hundreds of students who have protested in the streets are subject to criminal procedures. That could 

mean for those kids between 18 and 24 years in prison, in a Venezuelan prison. By the way, Venezuelan prisons are the most dangerous of all prisons in the continent, and that has been proven 

time and again. 

And so I came here. I asked him to go to Venezuela to see what 

was happening not only to media, I mean, over 34 radio stations 

shut down, several television stations shut down, students in prison, are persecuted, and he hasn’t been there because the Government of Venezuela has not asked him to go there. So something 

has to be done, I think, regarding the powers of the——

So to answer your question, perhaps give more power to the Organization of American States or reorganize it, and be present at 

the election on September 26. 

Mr. ENGEL. Let me ask you one other question, Mr. Granier. 

How much opposition media remains in Venezuela both on radio 

and TV, and the printed media, printed press? How much remains? 

Mr. GRANIER. In television, the only independent station is 

Globovision, which is under terrible threats right now not only 

there is an order to imprison Mr. Zuloaga, also his son, and one 

other shareholder in the station is also subject to—I mean, his 

bank was shutdown and he is being persecuted now. None of the 

others are—not even independent, not even neutral, I would say. 

On average they broadcast 31⁄2 hours of Chavez’s propaganda or 

Chavez’s speeches a day, on average 31⁄2 hours a day on every radio 

and television station in Venezuela. I can provide you with the figures if you want to. 

In the printed press the situation is different. They are facing a 

very tough economic situation. Venezuela for five quarters the 

economy has been slowing down at a very fast pace. We have been 

losing ground at about 5 percent per quarter, and it appears to be 

getting worse. On top of that there is inflation. 

In printed media, well, in all media in general advertising income grows more than proportionally when the Gross Domestic 

Product is going up, but it also decrease more than proportionally. 

So they are in a very tough situation. On top of that for their print 

they need dollars in order to acquire—Venezuela is not a paper 

printer producer, and is not a printing machine producer, so all 

spare parts, all paper print, most of the things you need to do a 

paper, excepting the work of the journalists, has to be imported. 

For that you need foreign currency. 

In the past 4 weeks, foreign currency has practically been not 

available to anybody, and now it is becoming available in a very 

short supply, and controlled by a partisan organization, so they depend on the goodwill of those people to get the news print they 

need, and the very small stations, what are called community station, they depend on a budget provided by the government. If they 

41

carry news that the government doesn’t like, their licensed is cancelled, and we have several cases of that happen. 

So, in general, I would say that—I mean, five or six newspapers 

over the country and some independent journalists that still do 

their work, but I will end with this. The president of the journalist 

association is ending his term right now, and he was looking for 

a job. Nobody wanted to give him a job because as president of the 

journalist association he had a critical position regarding some 

measures taken by the government, so the government doesn’t like 

him, so he is moving away from the country, and that is happening 

to several other journalists. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you. Mr. Enriquez, let me ask you just a 

quick question. In Nicaragua, there were municipal elections that 

were held a couple of years ago that were generally thought to be 

fraudulent. Can the opposition press write about that? 

Mr. ENRIQUEZ. Yes, the opposition press can write about that. In 

fact, we have done a lot of investigations about how the fraud was 

committed. Nevertheless, whenever we do that or whenever we 

launch an investigation on the government, we are usually attacked either personally or during Mr. Ortega’s speeches. 

In one occasion he even called those—that we were doing media 

terrorism, and on the anniversary of that fraud that Ortega celebrated it as a big victory, there was a caravan of his followers or 

people that he also, because there are thousands of people that he 

pays to go to these speeches, and they attacked La Prensa with the 

stones and mortars, and they caused some damage. So they hold 

us directly responsible for the reaction, international reaction that 

provoked this fraud. 

Thank you. Mr. Mack. 

Mr. MACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I have only got one, 

maybe two questions, because I know that we are running out of 

time, but I want to pick up the OAS, and I would like to ask each 

one of you if you believe that the OAS is promoting freedom of the 

press and democracy in the hemisphere or do you think it is a 

hinderance by not—you know, almost the inaction of the OAS is 

creating a scenario in which some of these countries feel like they 

can follow in Chavez’s lead? 

So if we could just go down the line and kind of give me your 

opinion of whether or not you think the OAS is functioning properly and if you think it should be reorganized. 

Mr. SIMON. As someone who was involved many years ago with 

the creation of the Special Rapporteur’s office and advocated for the 

creation of that position, I can say that the addition of that office 

has created a greater emphasis within the structure of the OAS 

that focuses on human rights, and that is to the advantage. 

It is hugely important to have an advocate like Catalina Botero 

within the organization, making sure that these issues are brought 

to the attention of the organization. 

I have to say honestly that I cannot think of a recent example 

in which the political part of the organization was directly involved 

in efforts that successfully defended the right to freedom of expression or press freedom, and I will leave it at that. 

Mr. MACK. Thank you. 

42

Mr. GRANIER. I think it has proven to be totally useless. I mean, 

it has been of no help whatsoever in defending democracy or in defending freedom of expression or in defending rights of any kind. 

It is sad to say that. 

On the other hand, the Inter American Commission on Human 

Rights is the only international court we have to go to with our 

problems, and the problem is that they have no teeth with their decisions, so their decisions are not implemented until there is a government willing to accept them. 

Regarding the Rapporteur, well, I am glad Ms. Botero is here, 

but I mean, she has been the only person willing to listen. For example, in my personal case I have been threatened to death and 

bombs have been thrown at my home. The only person who has listened to that complaint is Ms. Botero. 

I mean, I went to the attorney general in Venezuela. I went to 

the civil courts, I went to the penal courts. I went to all the possible authorities in Venezuela and nothing has been done. I mean, 

those people, and they have been clearly identified, walk around 

the streets in Venezuela. There is a documentary produced by a 

Spanish television station showing them acting freely. They have 

been trained by the army. They have been not only trained by the 

army, they are protected by the army. They are supplied by the 

army. 

So regarding the Rapporteur for freedom of information and the 

American Commission on Human Rights, I think their work is 

commendable, and they have been helping that. 

Regarding the Inter American—I mean, the Democratic Chart, 

this has to be reviewed. I mean it is no use at all. 

Mr. MACK. Thank you. 

Ms. NUNO. I agree with the comments. I have to say that it is 

important to make a difference within the human rights organs., 

The Inter American Commission and the Inter American Court on 

Human Rights. They have done a terrific job, not only the 

Rapporteurship on freedom of expression, but for example, the 

Inter American Court has issued in Nicaragua—it has order that 

the Nicaraguans modify the legislation so that the elections cannot—well, the fraud in elections cannot take place. 

And I agree with Mr. Granier when he says that we have one 

challenge is to comply with those resolutions. Those resolutions are 

very, very important, and right now we have to fight, or we have 

to lobby for those resolutions to be complied with. 

I think that the OAS and the countries that are part of the OAS, 

including the U.S. of course, need to give more budget to the commission and to the court. They have done a terrific job, and they 

need more budget and more resources to continue doing this terrific 

work. 

Regarding the OAS, I just want to say that yes, there are many 

challenges. Many challenges regarding democracy specifically. We 

were in Lima in the OAS General Assembly and we were saying, 

for example, there has to be a follow-up mechanism for this Inter 

American Democratic Charter. We were urging the OAS members 

states, for example, to give funding and support for the creation of 

a Special Rapporteurship that really monitors and prevents and inVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:01 Aug 13, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\WH\061610\56996 HFA PsN: SHIRL
43

forms the OAS member states on specific democracy issues or freedom of expression issues that are really threatened our nations. 

So maybe that is one way to—I don’t know—to try t support 

those efforts and to, of course, make them more stronger because 

they lack many effective ways right now. 

Mr. ENRIQUEZ. I think the OAS has to go through a complete 

overhaul. Right now the way it is working it is to me a presidents’ 

club, and what I mean by that is that only when a president is interested in bringing an issue to the OAS, he can be listened or the 

issue can be taken into consideration. 

We could see how Mr. Insulza during the crisis in Honduras, he 

traveled down to Managua to an emergency meeting, tried to defend democracy in Honduras, the funny thing was that right beside 

him was Raul Castro, and that was incredible to me that he was 

trying to defend democracy in Honduras while Raul Castro was beside him with 50 years as a dictator. 

So it has to go through a great overhaul because they put a lot 

of attention when a President is, you know, for naming it in a way, 

in trouble, but in Nicaragua we are living a permanent coup and 

no one is listening, at least at the OAS, and those are not my 

words. A permanent coup was used when one of the most respected 

lawyers in Nicaragua, because it is a permanent coup that Ortega 

is doing against the Supreme Court, against the National Assembly, against the electoral, Supreme Electoral Council. 

As I said, if it is going to work, we have to change the way it 

works. Thank you. 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Congressman, when I was a young man I remember hearing a quote from a former Secretary General of the OAS 

who said that the OAS will be what the member states want it to 

be, and I can only give you a personal opinion to your question, but 

I think that when you have many governments in the hemisphere 

that are democratic in origin but as time goes by behave in more 

authoritarian ways, that is the kind of policies you will see reflected in the OAS, and I think that is why people perceive a double standard with the organization at its worst or at its best, an 

inability to really hold human rights, universal human rights that 

the organization is sworn to uphold, and I don’t think that that is 

going to be able to be changed under the current system. 

Mr. MACK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I agree with our panel 

today that the OAS in my opinion is a hinderance, not a help, and 

it needs to be changed because, if not, we are not going to get the 

real change that we need in Latin America. Thank you, Your 

Honor. 

Mr. ENGEL. Before I call on Mr. Sires, I want to just note that 

we have been called for a series of votes. So we have a few minutes 

left, and Mr. Aguirre, I think you are still a young man, so don’t 

put yourself down. 

Mr. Sires. 

Mr. SIRES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

You know, I keep hearing about Chavez money going into Nicaragua, going into Argentina, you know, going into these other 

places. I was just wondering how much of that has an impact on 

the press and the people how they report things. Anyone want to 

take a—I am always reading about how much money Chavez 

44

throws into these countries, you know, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Argentina and some of these other places. How much do you think 

that impacts the press? 

You know, we have a saying in Spanish—we have a saying in 

Spanish you either pay the press or you beat it up, so I was just 

wondering—Mr. Aguirre? 

Mr. AGUIRRE. Congressman, that is an excellent question. I was 

told at one time that during the Nicaraguan Presidential elections 

almost $400 million of aid was given to the Government of Nicaragua for political purposes. If you consider the size of the country 

and the GDP of the country, that is huge, and because of the way 

that the government used this money to create groups that sometimes turned to violence or intimidating acts to the opposition, that 

definitely has a chilling effect on the press because the independent 

press is not a friend of these types of regimes, and that kind of—

that amount of money gives you such an incredible amount of influence and power that you really can start to act with impunity. 

Mr. SIRES. Mr. Enriquez? 

Mr. ENRIQUEZ. Well, in Nicaragua we have seen how, an example 

is Channel 8, they just went out and bought it, and now it is now 

an outlet for Ortega. There has been other cases of small TV stations and radio stations which they are simply working with the 

government. They are, as Mr. Granier said, not even neutral because they are receiving a heavy amount of advertising and that 

advertisement and the payment does not come out of the budget 

usually because they don’t have enough money, but it comes out of 

Albanisa. 

We have also seen how they have money that they do not report 

to anyone, and they can contract these kind of people to be aggressive against independent press. Four hundred million dollars is 

what Ortega, according to our calculations, Ortega is receiving each 

year since 2008. 

Mr. SIRES. He is a wealthy man. Mr. Granier? 

Mr. GRANIER. In the Venezuelan case, it hasn’t worked at all. In 

12 years I haven’t seen one single journal who has changed his position regarding Chavez because of any undue influence from the 

government. I could not say the same for media owners. I have 

seen plenty of them who were strongly against Chavez at one point 

in time and they were seduced by easy dollars or by advertising 

from the government or by special compensations. 

Regarding other countries, I think it depends on the quality of 

the press. For example, in Argentina, Chavez has given billions of 

dollars and yet you see the Argentinean press is still independent, 

both La Natione and Clarin are independent. You can say the same 

with the television stations. In Chile, he as spent a lot of money 

promoting underground groups, and it hasn’t worked very well in 

Peru. Even in Ecuador, Ecuador the press still remains independent. I mean, all the papers like El Comojo, I mean several papers both in Guayaquil and Quito. 

So I think it depends on the quality of the press in each country. 

I repeat, I have not seen one single journalist who was turned progovernment because he was paid or anything. They have not been 

convinced neither by arguments nor by money. 

Mr. SIRES. Great. Thank you very much. 

45

Mr. GRANIER. Thank you. 

Mr. ENGEL. Thank you. Mr. Smith. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much. I want to ask the panel just 

as I asked Ms. Botero to look into the deployment of Chinese cyber 

police, as well as Cuba, Nicaragua, anywhere else, because I do 

think under the cover of working on the media their worst practices are being replicated and it is the way of shutting down—it is 

easy to attack paper, it is a little harder to attack the Internet, so 

please look into that. 

Let me just point out another point, In 1984, and Mr. Enriquez, 

you make the point that the Carlos Fernando Cherago from 

Baracada has gone over to the opposition side. How do the people 

react when you are attacked, your friends are attacked? Are they 

attacked as well? 

And I would note parenthetically back in 1984, you know, just 

to get a little glimpse of just how harsh some of these people can 

be, Baracada, three other Members of Congress and I went and 

met with Ortega, fought with him in an argument about human 

rights for about 2 hours, and the way that they misrepresented us 

was astounding. 

I mean, we get bad press here sometimes. You write a letter to 

the editor. But it was just—I mean, it was grossly misinformation, 

gross misinformation, and it just taught me a lesson of just how 

bad some of these groups can be. 

And finally, the Human Rights Council, Nicaragua and Cuba 

have both gone through their universal periodic reviews, press freedom issues were raised. I know the Universal Periodic Review they 

suggested a monitor go to Cuba, and I was there with the 

Mondavalladaries when he won the first resolution on Cuba at the 

old Human Rights Commission, and, frankly, everyone who talked 

to that commission who happened to be a political prisoner was retaliated against, and yet the U.N. continues to have Cuba sitting 

as a member in good standing on the Human Rights Council. 

That is an absolute outrage and it makes a mockery of the 

Human Rights Commission and Human Rights Council, and those 

who permit it at the U.N. ought to hang their heads in shame that 

such a rogue nation could sit there, run interference for other rogue 

nations, including themselves. 

Mr. ENGEL. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Smith. I want to 

thank all the panelists for very, very good testimony. I know we 

talked about hypocrisy. I know, Mr. Enriquez, you mentioned the 

hypocrisy of Raul Castro being concerned about freedom on Honduras when he provides none for his own country. 

We had to chuckle before when we saw that Nicaragua suspended relations with Israel because it objected to the incident on 

the flotilla when there were no freedoms, as you pointed out, Mr. 

Enriquez, in Nicaragua; limited freedoms in terms of press freedom. And similarly with Ecuador. They call its ambassador to 

Israel to protest, yet we had Emelio Palacio being given a jail sentence, and we had Mr. Correa’s statements about press in this 

country which concerned Secretary Clinton who made some comments about it as well. 

So I think that hypocrisy reigns supreme, but this committee, 

this subcommittee, we will continue to focus attention on the freeVerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:01 Aug 13, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\WH\061610\56996 HFA PsN: SHIRL
46

doms of the press in all these places, and I thank all of you for your 

really good, all five of you, for your really good expert testimony 

and your concerns. I think that if we bring these things to light 

and we keep shining a light on them, that is the best way to make 

sure that they are changed, and that we have the freedom of the 

press that the peoples of all the Americas deserve. 

So thank you very much for your great testimony, and the hearing is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:20 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

(47)

A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

48


56996n-1.eps
49


56996n-2.eps
50


56996m.eps
51


56996g-1.eps
52


56996g-2.eps
53


56996g-3.eps
54


56996h-1.eps
55

Æ


56996h-2.eps