Inter American Press Association

Inter American Press Association (IAPA) is a coalition of newspaper owners and editors – a trade association of newspaper owners. The purpose of the organization is to influence policy on press ownership, aka, "press freedom", and to establish a common front if there is a perceived threat to the group's interests. It is a curious organization, because its mission is not clearly spelled out; the IAPA website doesn't even have an "About Us" section.
IAPA has a long history of association with the CIA and its efforts to undermine countries inimical to US interests. In all likelihood, IAPA was set up by the CIA and its affiliated organs.
==Murky Chapters==
IAPA becomes a useful tool when a Latin American country undergoes democratic or revolutionary change. Fred Landis describes how newspapers in the target country become propaganda instruments manipulated by the CIA and its affiliated organs:
:IAPA stands ready, with all its hundreds of cooperating member newspapers, to scream "Marxist Threat to Free Press" if any attempt is made by the target government to restrict the flow of hostile propaganda. In 1969 the CIA had five agents working as media executives at El Mercurio, all of whom in subsequent years were elevated to the Board of Directors of IAPA. The owner of El Mercurio was made head of the Freedom of the Press committee, and later President. IAPA bylaws permitted only working owners to be members, so the bylaws were changed to accommodate him. Then many of the CIA operatives at Copley News Service were made members of the Board of Directors of IAPA. Immediately before the campaign to oust socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley, Jamaica Daily Gleaner publisher Oliver Clarke was added to the Executive Committee; he has now been promoted to Treasurer. At the last annual convention in San Diego, IAPA elevated Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Jr., to its Board of Directors. At that time he was not an editor or publisher of La Prensa, but the CIA needed him because he had the same name as his martyred father. After his elevation he was belatedly made Assistant Director of La Prensa, and when he was recently added to the IAPA Executive Committee, La Prensa began carrying the IAPA membership credential in its masthead. At the last IAPA meeting in Rio de Janeiro in October, speeches, including those by Vice-President Bush, were dominated by alarmist references to the situation of the press in Nicaragua.
:Obviously the owner of a conservative newspaper in Latin America does not need CIA money to be against a socialist government. The assistance provided by the CIA is primarily technical, not financial. Without CIA help, the local newspaper's opposition would be openly stated on the editorial page in language reflecting the ideology of the local conservative elite. That would be ideological warfare, not psychological warfare. But the CIA is not concerned, in these operations, with local ideology; it is concentrating on the use of its bag of technological dirty tricks. One of these tricks is disinformation.
==Principals==
===Officers===
Officers 2007
Scott C. Schurz - Honorary President, Herald-Times Bloomington, Indiana
Rafael Molina - President, Día, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Earl Maucker - 1st Vice-President, 
Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Enrique Santos Calderón - 2nd Vice-President, El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia
William E. Casey - Treasurer, Down Jones & Co., New York, New York
Juan Luis Correa - Secretary, La Prensa, Panamá, Panama Republic
Julio E. Muñoz - Executive Director
  
Source accessed 15 July 2007
===Executive Committee===
Executive Committee 2007
Robert U. Brown - Hon. Chairman;
 
Editor & Publisher, New York
Alejandro J. Aguirre - Chairman
 
Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida
Diana Daniels - Vice Chairman
 
The Washington Post Company, Washington, D.C
Members
Fabricio Altamirano
 
El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador
Bruce Brugmann
 
San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California
Jorge Canahuati Larach
 
La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Robert J. Caldwell
 
The San Diego Union-Tribune, California
Milton Coleman
 
The Washington Post, Washington, DC
Juan Luis Correa
 
La Prensa, Panama City
Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz
 
El Universal, Mexico, DF
Felipe T. Edwards
 
La Segunda, Santiago, Chile
Luis A. Ferre
 
El Nuevo Día, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tom Fiedler
 
The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida
Armando Gonzalez Rodicio
 
La Nación, San Jose, Costa Rica
Liza Gross
 
The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida
Jose Santiago Healy
 
Diario San Diego, Chula Vista, California
Andre Jungblut
 
Gazeta do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil
Jaime Mantilla
 
Diario Hoy, Quito, Ecuador
Gonzalo Marroquin
 
Prensa Libre, Guatemala
Earl Maucker
 
Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Silvia Miro Quesada
 
El Comercio, Lima, Peru
Bartolome Mitre
 
La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gustavo Mohme
 
La República, Lima, Peru
Tony Pederson
 
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
Nelida Rajneri
 
Río Negro, General Roca, Argentina
Edward Seaton
 
Seaton Newspapers, Manhattan, Kansas
Jayme Sirotsky
 
RBS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Scott C. Schurz
 
Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana
Paul K. Scripps
 
E.W. Scripps Company, San Diego, California
Source accessed 15 July 2007
===Advisory Council===
Officers 2007
Alejandro J. Aguirre - Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida
Horacio Aguirre - Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida
Danilo Arbilla - Búsqueda, Montevideo, Uruguay
Robert U. Brown - Editor & Publisher, New York
Luis Gabriel Cano - El Espectador, Bogotá, Colombia
Oliver F. Clarke - The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica
Robert J. Cox - The Post & Courier, Charleston, S.C.
Diana Daniels - The Washington Post Company, Washington DC
Hector Davalos - Novedades de Acapulco, Mexico
Agustin E. Edwards - El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile
Jorge E. Fascetto - El Día, La Plata, Argentina
Jack Fuller - Tribune Publishing Co., (retired) Chicago, Illinois
Maximo Gainza - La Prensa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Andres Garcia - Novedades de Quintana Roo, México
Andres Garcia Lavin - Novedades de Mérida, Yucatán, México
Edward H. Harte - Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Texas
Jorge A. Hernandez R. - El Colombiano, Medellín, Colombia
Argentina S. Hills - Life Member, Miami, Florida 
Alejandro Junco de la Vega - El Norte, Monterrey, México
Raul E. Kraiselburd - El Día, La Plata, Argentina
David Lawrence, Jr. - The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida
Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr. - La Opinión, Los Angeles, California
Earl Maucker - Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A. Roy Megarry – The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada
Júlio C. F. de Mesquita - O Estado de S. Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
Alejandro Miró Quesada G. - El Comercio, Lima, Peru
Alejo Miró Quesada. - El Comercio, Lima, Peru
Rafael Molina - El Día, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Tony Pederson - Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
Luis Fernando Santos - El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia
Edward Seaton - Seaton Newspapers, Manhattan, Kansas
Roberto Suarez - El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida
William P. Williamson, Jr. - Life Member, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Source accessed 15 July 2007
===Board of Directors===
Board of Directors 2004 - 2007
Cristina Aby-Azar The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York
David Adams St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida
Gilberto Arias Editora Panamá-América, Panamá, Panama City
Maria Ofelia Cerro Moral La Industria de Trujillo y Chiclayo, Peru
Alejandro Dominguez La Nación, Asuncion,Paraguay
Elizabeth Dulanto de Miro Quesada Cosas, Lima, Peru
Felipe Edwards La Segunda, Santiago, Chile
Martin Fascetto Diario Popular, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jose Santiago Healy Diario San Diego, Chula Vista, California
Saturnino Herrero Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Juan Pablo Illanes El Mercurio, Valparaiso, Chile
David Meissner Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin
Silvia Miro Quesada El Comercio, Lima, Peru
Bartolome Mitre La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Robert Rivard San Antonio-Express News, San Antonio, Texas
Raul Rivero CubaPress La Habana, Cuba
Scott C. Schurz Herald-Times Bloomington, Indiana
Jayme Sirotsky RBS, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Clemente Vivanco Diario La Hora, Quito, Ecuador
Aldo Zuccolillo ABC Color, Asunción, Paraguay
 
Board of Directors 2005 - 2008
H. Brandt Ayers The Anniston Star, Anniston, Alabama
George Benge Gannett Corporation, Inc., McLean, Virginia
Bruce Brugmann San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California
Robert J. Caldwell The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California
Milton Coleman The Washington Post, Washington, DC
Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz El Universal,Mexico, DF
Agustin J. Edwards El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile
Luis F. Etchevehere El Diario, Paraná, Argentina
Luis Alberto Ferre Rangel El Nuevo Día, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Gerardo Garcia Gamboa Novedades de Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
Mario Alberto Gusmão Jornal NH, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil
Juan Fernando Healy Periódicos Healy, Hermosillo, Mexico
Miguel Henrique Otero El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela
André Luis Jungblut Gazeta do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil
Jaime Mantilla Anderson Diario Hoy, Quito, Ecuador
Gonzalo Marroquin Prensa Libre, Guatemala, Guatemala
William O. Nutting Wheeling News Register, Wheeling, West Virginia
Louis (Skip) Perez The Ledger, Lakeland, Florida
Nelida Rajneri Diario Río Negro, General Roca, Argentina
Pedro Zambrano Lapentti El Diario - Manabita, Portoviejo, Ecuador
 
Board of Directors 2006 - 2009
Eduardo Aleman Diario Carabobeño, Valencia, Venezuela
Larry Allison The Press Telegram, Long Beach, California
Fabricio Altamirano El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador
Jorge Canahuati La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Humberto Castello El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida
Armando Castilla G. Vanguardia, Saltillo, Mexico
Jaime Chamorro La Prensa, Managua, Nicaragua
Jeff Cohen Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas
Jose Roberto Dutriz La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador
Tom Fiedler The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida
Mark Fitzgerald Editor & Publisher, New York, New York
Alfredo Jimenez de Sandi Imagen, Mexico, DF
Gonzalo Leaño Ocho Columnas, Guadalajara, Mexico
Guadalupe Mantilla Diario El Comercio, Quito, Ecuador
Andres Mata Osorio El Universal, Caracas, Venezuela
Gustavo Adolfo Mohme S. La República, Lima, Peru
Francisco Montes El Diario de Cuyo, Cuyo, Argentina
Carlos Salinas El Diario de Coahuila, Saltillo, Mexico
Paul K. Scripps E.W. Scripps Company, San Diego, California
Gilberto Urdaneta El Regional de Zulia, Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela
 
Source accessed 15 July 2007
==Contact==
:Web: www.sipiapa.org
==References==
#Fred Landis, CIA Media Operations in Chile, Jamaica, and Nicaragua, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 16, March 1982, pp. 34 -- 35.