Assange Latin American supporters major free speech violators

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy while his supporters denounce the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden.

Assange’s supporters see him as the champion of free speech and expression and praise Ecuador for “protecting” him. They kinda miss the fact that Ecuador has a horrible record when it comes to freedom of press, speech and expression.

And then came the meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). The organization set up in 2004 by Cuba and Venezuela is hardly a bastion of countries that believe in the values Assange and his followers speak of.

Let’s look at the members of ALBA and their press freedom records:

Country	Freedom House Press Freedom Ranking	Freedom House Political Freedom Ranking	Reporters Without Borders Ranking
Antigua and Barbuda	Partly Free	Free	N/A
Bolivia	Partly Free	Partly Free	Noticeable Problems
Cuba	Not Free	Not Free	Very Serious Problem
Dominica	Free	Free	N/A
Ecuador	Partly Free	Partly Free	Noticeable Problems
Nicaragua	Partly Free	Partly Free	Noticeable Problems
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Free	Free	N/A
Venezuela	Not Free	Partly Free	Noticeable Problems

And for the record, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden are all ranked as FREE politically and with freedom of the press and expression in the Freedom House rankings.

It is ironic that people are so willing to turn a blind eye to the violations of freedom of press, speech and assembly done by Ecuador if it means sticking their fingers in the eyes of the US and UK. Do any of Assange’s supporters really think that he could get away with what he has done and what he advocates in Ecuador? Venezuela? Cuba?

If they do, then they are just as delusional as those on the right who think the world in only 6,000 years old and that rape victims can’t get pregnant.

Surprise: Correa is a hypocrite on free expression

So Julian Assange is seeking asylum in the Ecuadoran embassy in London from sex-crime charges in Sweden.  And, typically, his supporters are singing the praises of Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa for protecting Assange and standing up for freedom of expression.

The problem: Correa is hardly a supporter of freedom of expression in his own country.

Maite Rico, a columnist for El Pais in Madrid, wrote about Correa and his move: Correa maneuvers

Ecuador’s government “grants asylum to hacker Julian Assange Australian-and forced into exile director review the Universe, “said the newspaper El Comercio , in reference to the journalist Emilio Palacio, who took refuge in the Embassy of Panama in Quito (and, remember, refused at the time the pass ). “I wish that human rights and freedom of expression that invokes the Government for the respect of asylum without restriction in the country,” says the newspaper Hoy.

And then there is the Committee to Protect Journalists: As it backs Assange, Ecuador stifles expression at home

President Rafael Correa’s press freedom record is among the very worst in the Americas, and providing asylum to the WikiLeaks founder won’t change the repressive conditions facing Ecuadoran journalists who want to report critically about government policies and practices.

Correa continues campaign against independent media

And people wonder why Ecuador is singled out for its attacks on the media…

Fifth media outlet closed in a two-week period

On 6 June 2012, authorities of the General Intendancy of the Police, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Telecommunications Superintendancy (SUPERTEL) closed down and seized the equipment of radio station Net of the city of Ambato, in the province of Tungurahua in central Ecuador.

Rest of story

The battle for independent media in Ecuador has been going on for some time. President Rafael Correa has used every tool at his disposal to stifle any criticism of his government.

Besides the seizing of equipment — as noted above — Correa has sued publications that are critical of his administration. He won separate libel complaints against executives of the daily El Universo and authors of the book The Big Brother. The appeals courts — packed with Correa supporters — backed up the lower court decision. Even a statement by Correa earlier this year that he would pardon the journalists he sued, did not calm continued concerns for press freedom in the South American country.

Things are getting tougher for journalists in Latin America

It took a long time for journalists to feel secure in Latin America. Between the right-wing and left-wing dictatorships and the private hit squads, freedom of press was a delicate thing in the region.

The 1990s were the best years for press freedom.

And then things started to go bad.

The right-wing dictatorships were gone but new “populist” left wing governments started taking over. And these governments saw the “need” to “guide” the media. In some cases — such as Ecuador and Venezuela — the governments just decided free press was not a luxury the country could afford.

Then there were hit squads from narcos and less-than-reputable local businessmen who did not like reporters poking into their affairs.

The annual Press Freedom Index from Freedom House documents the sorry state of press freedom in the region.

The Fragile State of Media Freedom in Latin America

While I disagree with the Freedom House designation of Honduras as having a “Not Free” press, I can understand why some might think so. The attacks on the media here make life dangerous for journalists.  The only problem is that there is no proof that most of the 24 murders of journalists took place to intimidate the journalists.

To be sure, it is a good assumption, but in some cases there is also indications that the dead journalist could also have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. (After all, Honduras has about 20 murders a day.)

Lots of people — mostly on the left — got upset when President Obama focused on the threat to free media from Ecuador in his Press Freedom Day statement. These people said he should have gone after Honduras.

The difference between Honduras and Ecuador is that the government of Ecuador has a concentrated campaign against independent and free media. While the Honduran government does not.

To me, that is a major difference.

Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Freedom House Project Director of “Freedom of the Press”  sums up the government situation in Latin America nicely:

[In] Bolivia and Ecuador the state has assumed a growing share of media ownership, following the example of Venezuela, where the government has actively subsidized or opened media outlets and then used them to propagate pro-government messages.

The Freedom House charts show the major deterioration of press freedom takes place mostly in countries aligned with Venezuela. Mexico is the only exception.

Journalists in Mexico — like those in Honduras — don’t face official government threats, but rather threats from weak and corrupt government institutions that cannot or will not properly investigate murders. Or corrupt individuals who turn a blind eye to murders committed by narcos and organized crime.

In neither Mexico nor Honduras does the evidence point to a concentrated campaign against journalists. Rather the weakness of the political and social structures make it nigh impossible for the governments to properly investigate and prosecute the murderers.

El Universal libel case gets weirder — Judge accuses Correa team of attempted bribery

The latest twist in the lawsuit against El Universal by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has the original judge in the case seeking asylum. (Judge in Ecuador libel case flees country)

The judge, Monica Encalada, told the press she was seeking the protection of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission after she publicly accused the judicial system of being corrupt.

Encalada told a press conference in Bogata, Colombia, that lawyers for Correa promised her US$3,000 a month and steady work if she ruled in favor of the president.

The US$42 million criminal libel case was started by President Correa after El Universo criticized the president for actions the government took to free Correa while he was briefly held hostage by protesting policemen September 2010. A commentary by columnist Emilio Palacio in February 2011 suggesting that Correa could face criminal charges for allowing troops to storm the hospital and harm innocent people. Palacio also regularly referred to Correa as “the dictator” in the commentary.

The trial, which ruled against El Universo, ended in September. Palacio’s sentence was upheld in appeal in late December. By that time, Palacio had left  El Universo and fled to Miami. Earlier this month he applied for political asylum in the United States.

A final appeal on the case reaffirmed the original court decision last week.

The final appeal came after Correa and about 20 of his cabinet ministers and top aides occupied much of the eighth-floor courtroom, according to press reports.

In a Twitter appeal from Correa, supporters quickly gathered outside the court, where they burned copies of newspapers and shouted “Down with El Universo.”

Correa supporters also roughed up several journalists covering the case and the demonstration.

Part of the appeals process focussed on how quickly the trial judge turned around his 150-page decision.

The judge, Juan Paredes, said he depended on the prepatory work done by Encalada. For her part, Encalada called Paredes a liar.

Encalada acknowledged giving Paredes a memory stick with part of the casework, but, she said, none of that material was in the final sentence. She added that he later told her that the decision and sentence was written by Correa’s legal team.

A court-approved Ecuadorian consultant found irregularities in the document. A U.S. consultant retained by the defense said his own examination showed that the decision was actually written by Correa’s attorney, Gutemberg Vera.

El Universo says the sentence was written on a pirated version of Microsoft Word registered to a fictitious “Chucky Seven,” but that has been traced back to Vera from other documents.

The “Chucky Seven” claims, as they are known in Ecuador, have been rejected by the government. The Correa team is doubling down on its attacks against El Universal by now accusing them of buying off Encalada.

The bottom line is that Correa has been attacking the free and independent media in Ecuador. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the most recent decision against El Universal ”dangerous” and “sets a dark precedent for freedom of expression in the Americas.”