VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLP #0647/01 0842106
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 242106Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY LA PAZ
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6909

UNCLAS LA PAZ 000647 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL BL
SUBJECT: ATTACKS AGAINST FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN BOLIVIA 
 
REFTEL: 2007 LA PAZ 2854 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) Attacks against the press are frequent in Bolivia, but the 
number and severity of these attacks has risen over the past two 
years.  The Superintendent of Telecommunications issued and then 
retracted after a public outcry a policy stating that published or 
transmitted information, even if true, could be penalized if the 
information provoked a strong public response.  President Evo 
Morales' ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party's proposed 
constitution also contemplates language that would limit the rights 
of reporters to freely practice their trade.  President Morales 
often calls the press his government's "number one enemy."  Bolivian 
and international press organizations have argued in defense of the 
media, but as attacks against journalists and media owners increase, 
the future of freedom of expression in Bolivia remains unclear.  End 
summary. 
 
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MAS Constitution Not Press Friendly 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Media organizations have been concerned for some time 
about an article in the MAS draft constitution that states: "The 
information and opinions issued through the media must respect the 
principles of truth and responsibility."  The National Press 
Association (ANP) denounced the article in front of the OAS on March 
18 stating that freedom of expression is in danger in Bolivia.  If 
approved, government officials could use the article as the basis to 
press legal charges against citizens it believes to have defied the 
article's principals.  The ANP says the article in the proposed 
constitution violates international and universal norms such as the 
UN Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human 
Rights, and the Inter-American Declaration on Freedom of 
Expression. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Regulator to Press: Behave or Face Sanctions 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  In mid-March the Superintendent of Telecommunications 
(SITTEL) sent a letter to more than a thousand radio and TV stations 
instructing them to refrain from broadcasting information that "even 
if authentic, could harm or alarm the population on account of the 
way or time it is broadcast."  The letter was sent just as popular 
protests over rising food prices were heating up, and there is some 
speculation that the letter was a warning to media outlets over 
stories that highlighted food shortages and price hikes in staples. 
On March 19, the ANP issued a communiqu "firmly rejecting" SITTEL's 
letter, arguing that it represented a "veiled and unacceptable" form 
of government censorship.  The communiqu stated that ANP regretted 
SITTEL's meddling in journalistic content by arbitrarily telling 
media outlets what they can broadcast.  The communiqu concluded, 
"This attitude adds to the government's decision at the 
Constitutional Assembly of incorporating into the [proposed] 
constitution a mechanism that violates the Bolivian peoples' freedom 
of expression." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Media organizations, the opposition, and several 
government officials, all rejected the SITTEL letter.  Even the Vice 
President joined the massive outcry.  "Democracy is based on freedom 
of expression and on a free press.  We renew our commitment to the 
principle of this right," the Vice President said.  Bolivian 
government spokesman and former journalist Alex Contreras described 
the letter as incoherent, inappropriate, and out of line since it 
goes against the government's stance as a "fervent defender" of the 
freedom of expression and information in the country.  Contreras 
asked SITTEL to retract the letter by sending the media another 
letter correcting the mistake.  Contreras went a step further and 
asserted that the government will defend freedom of expression and 
information to the end. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On March 20, after the wave of criticism from the public 
and from the government itself, SITTEL suspended the application of 
the letter and admitted it had based the letter on legislation that 
was no longer applicable.  A follow-on communiqu sent by SITTEL 
said: "In the face of norms drafted more than a decade ago that at 
present are insufficient to be put in service, it is the duty of all 
the actors involved to... bring up to date or annul those norms." 
The communiqu concludes indicating that the letter sent to more 
than a thousand media would not be put into effect. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Several prominent La Paz journalists in two separate TV 
Sunday (March 23) news talk shows expressed that the SITTEL letter 
was not accidental.  They noted that SITTEL cited a very old law, a 
law that was not even enforced during the military dictatorships. 
The unearthing of such an old law indicates SITTEL had researched 
its position.  The journalists argued that the superintendent -- a 
government-appointed official -- would not have drafted the letter 
in isolation.  Rather, the superintendent must have done so at the 
request of a higher-ranking government official, perhaps some of the 
same government officials who are now pretending to be shocked by 
it.  The journalists believe the letter is designed to serve as a 
legal justification for the article in the MAS's proposed 
constitution that says that the media must respect the principles of 
truth and responsibility.  They questioned who would be authorized 
to determine truthful and responsible journalism under the new 
constitution.  The journalists argued that the answers to these 
questions point directly to government officials who intend to 
muzzle the media. 
 
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A Long History of Press Enmity 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) SITTEL'S letter was not the government's first foray into 
restricting the press's work.  In June 2007, President Morales 
signed a decree limiting the concession of radio licenses for rural 
areas.  The decree forbids rural radio stations from broadcasting 
political messages.  However, the rule does not apply to the thirty 
government-controlled "community radio stations" that President 
Morales created with two million dollars in Venezuelan government 
financing.  The Bolivian government's national communication 
director admitted that the objective of creating these stations was 
to act as a counterbalance to the radio stations linked to the 
opposition from the media luna (the eastern provinces including the 
departments of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni, and Pando). 
 
¶8.  (SBU) During a message to Congress early this year commemorating 
his first two years in office, the President proposed eliminating 
the right to protect confidential sources in order to make 
information more transparent and to prevent slander.  The La Paz 
Press Association immediately rejected the proposal arguing that the 
decision would go against those who reveal corruption, and other 
whistle blowers.  The Association president argued, "If journalists 
were to reveal sources we would turn into informers and those 
individuals who give us tips would be implicated in defamation suits 
or police persecutions." 
 
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Morales Sees a Conspiratorial Press 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Since his election, President Morales has had an 
antagonistic relationship with the Bolivian press.  Government 
officials starting with the President frequently say that the media 
is in the hands of powerful and hostile economic groups from the 
right that defend their interests and privileges while opposing the 
government's process of change.  President Morales is correct that 
wealthy families are the primary owners of Bolivia's media outlets 
and that they generally have a conservative, pro-business outlook. 
These families often do not share President Morales' political 
views. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Citing their wealth and privilege, President Morales 
accuses the media families (and their employees) of conspiring 
against his government: "The main adversaries of my presidency, of 
my government, are certain communications media," he has often said. 
 Another of his favorite phrases is "Evo Morales' enemy number one 
is the majority of the media," though he sometimes draws a 
distinction: "Reporters sympathize with me, but the media owners are 
aligned in a campaign against my government."  Nevertheless, the 
government has never provided proof that the media are conspiring to 
topple him.  "The administration believes that any criticism is part 
of a conspiracy," says Pedro Rivero, executive director of Santa 
Cruz's leading daily El Deber, and president of the National Press 
Association.  "There is freedom of expression in Bolivia, but the 
President's constant verbal attacks send some worrying signals." 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Unlike past democratically elected presidents, President 
Morales has made a practice of railing against the media during his 
public events, accusing the media of distorting, manipulating 
information, and lying.  The President has declared publicly that 
the press in Bolivia is free to express its views, but the press in 
its stories about his administration is "reckless."  President 
Morales often asserts that the press misinforms, attacks, and wants 
to humiliate him. 
 
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Attacks on Journalists Rising 
------------------------------ 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The President's frequent media bashing and finger 
pointing has taken its toll in more ways than one.  Starting last 
year, attacks on journalists and media outlets by angry citizens 
have been increasingly frequent and fierce.  UNITEL which is owned 
by a Santa Cruz businessman and strong President Morales critic is 
often the target of the President's rhetorical attacks which at 
times have turned into physical attacks by his supporters.  On 
November 26, 2007, with a cry of "death to the media who lie!" and 
"Death to UNITEL!" groups of pro-MAS individuals harassed, beat, and 
kicked journalists during public demonstrations, and even smashed 
their cameras.  They also attacked media stations by throwing stones 
and smashing windows.  According to a Reporters Without Borders 
report, there were 60 attacks and acts of aggression against 
journalists during 2007. (See reftel.) 
 
¶13.  (SBU) In September 2006 President Morales called a press 
conference to slam two media reports published in La Paz's leading 
daily newspaper La Razon in which he accused the paper of "lies and 
misinform[ing] constantly."  On March 22, 2007, a group of 
campesinos in La Paz took two La Razon journalists hostage.  The 
angry locals slashed the journalists' car tires, held them inside 
their vehicle, and harassed and threatened them throughout the 
night.  The campesinos accused the reporters of lying constantly. 
At dawn they let the reporters leave unharmed. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) March 2008 probably saw the worst attack yet when a mob 
in the coca-growing Chapare region lynched three policemen and 
almost killed two TV journalists who were covering the story at the 
request of locals.  Recognizing that film testimony of the torture 
and massacre could be incriminating, one of the individuals involved 
in the lynching of the policemen went after the journalists.  The 
thugs stole the reporters' cameras and beat them badly.  The 
reporters themselves barely escaped from being lynched.  People in 
the mob claimed that they were from the MAS, and stated that they 
were in power now and that nobody could stop them. 
 
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Comment 
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¶15.  (SBU) Reporters are beginning to voice their concerns that it 
is difficult and at times unsafe to exercise their profession. 
While supporters of the government are not the only ones to attack 
the press corps -- at times pro-opposition thugs attack members of 
the government-backed media -- it is the government's responsibility 
to guarantee freedom of expression.  For President Morales, any 
criticism of his "project for change" represents a political agenda, 
an agenda that must be stopped regardless of its impact on the right 
to free speech.  That said, the media continue to investigate and 
report on government corruption, mishandling of the economy and 
political missteps by the Morales Administration, and there is no 
shortage of media stories critical of the President.  End Comment.