Ecuador's Correa threatens to oust press rights chief

[Zorro]

Correa seems to be a mite touchy lately.

<snip>

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa threatened Saturday to expel Inter American Press Association chief Gonzalo Marroquin for calling him a "dictator" on his visit to the country.

"I think we have tolerated too much," said Correa, days after heavy sentences were handed down on four journalists found guilty of libeling him -- sparking outrage from the Ecuadoran press.

If "a foreigner arrives in a country that receives him with respect, and they say it is a dictatorship, doesn't respect laws, (they) will be expelled from the country," Correa added.

Correa refused to meet with Marroquin during his visit last Monday, ahead of the conviction Wednesday of El Universo senior managers Carlos, Cesar and Nicolas Perez, and their former editorial page editor Emilio Palacio for libel, They received sentences of three years in jail.

<snip>

More at: http://news.yahoo.com/ecuadors-correa-threatens-oust-press-rights-chief-203224370.html

[EFerrari]

1. Good for him. n/t

[naaman fletcher]

2. Yes,

Those of us who support democracy often support jailing opponent as you do.

[Zorro]

3. Ecuador: A Blow to Free Speech

Human Rights Watch thinks it's a bad idea.

<snip>

The conviction of President Rafael Correa's critics for criminal defamation violates Ecuador's international human rights obligations and should be overturned on appeal, Human Rights Watch said today. Ecuador should abolish the defamation provisions in its criminal code, Human Rights Watch said.

On July 20, 2011, a judge in Guayas province sentenced each of the four to three years in prison and ordered a total of US$40 million in fines against the men and the newspaper, El Universo, based in Guayaquil. The men are Emilio Palacio, a journalist, and three members of the newspaper's board of directors, Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, and Carlos Nicolás Pérez Barriga.

"The criminal conviction of the president's critics is a major setback for free speech in Ecuador," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Punishing a journalist and directors of a newspaper for ‘offending' the president is likely to have a very negative impact on the news media and public debate in Ecuador."

Correa had filed a criminal defamation suit in March contending that an opinion piece by Palacio "on purpose, immorally, and maliciously insults , with the only intention of affecting prestige, honor, and good name."

<snip>

More at: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/07/21/ecuador-blow-free-speech

[EFerrari]

4. Human Rights Watch blew it when they politicized their mission

in Latin America.

[Judi Lynn]

5. If they can't handle it 100% honestly they need to go back home in NYC. n/t

[EFerrari]

11. Ken Roth, the director, seems to be a good advocate for Human Rights.

I've seen him deck Bush torture defenders in debate. But, there are pieces of HRW that are politicized and that compromises their whole project. Like the DC spokesman who wrote the OPED in the New Republic calling for political credit for Obama for the bombing of Libya. What the heck kind of human rights organization promotes bombing? :wtf:

So, it's not just Vivanco.

[Zorro]

6. PRESIDENT’S LAWSUIT ENDS WITH JAIL TERMS, HUGE FINE FOR NEWSPAPER DIRECTORS AND COLUMNIST

Reporters Without Borders weighs in on the issue.

<snip>

Reporters Without Borders is shocked by yesterday’s court ruling in the western city of Guayaquil sentencing three directors of the El Universo daily – Carlos Pérez, César Pérez and Nicolas Pérez – and columnist Emilio Palacio to three years in prison and ordering them to pay a fine of 30 million dollars and 10 million dollars in damages in a libel suit by President Rafael Correa.

“Even if the columnist’s comments were excessive, we condemn the three-year jail sentences and the exorbitant fines and damages awards imposed on him and El Universo’s directors,” Reporters Without Borders said. “These sentences are all the more inopportune for coming at a time when the future communication law is being debated.

“Contrary to the general trend in Latin America of decriminalizing media offences, Ecuador’s legislation still provides for prison sentences for defamation. Jailing someone for a media offence is contrary to the jurisprudence established by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which Ecuador is required to follow as a member of the Organization of American States.

“This kind of judicial persecution suggests that the authorities are pursuing a strategy aimed at silencing the country’s media, which are heavily criticized by President Correa in his radio and TV broadcasts known as ‘cadenas’ and ‘enlaces.’ We call again for the decriminalization of media offences and we urge the courts to overturn this ruling. Upholding it will just encourage self-censorship.”

<snip>

More at: http://en.rsf.org/ecuador-president-s-lawsuit-ends-with-jail-21-07-2011,40675.html

[Bacchus39]

7. three years in prison for insulting Rafa...unbelievable

what fool would support this repression???

[Derechos]

8. I fail to see how this is a positive development for Ecuador.

Criminal libel laws are terrible for an open democracy or a free press.

[Zorro]

9. Correa reportedly is appealing the decision

He wants $80 million, not $40 million.

Guayas Province is a recognized center of anti-Correa sentiment. It's not a particularly popular decision there.

[bemildred]

10. Gee, I just don't know who to pick here.

In a dirty fight, everybody tends to get soiled.
:popcorn:

[EFerrari]

12. Ecuador has been a nest of vipers for years

and I'm totally down with the state withdrawing their impunity. The guy who led the fake insurrection in Haiti was trained in Ecuador by La CIA. And we watched how these @ssholes almost killed Correa last year using the infiltrated national police.

He's a social democrat and as John Perkins pointed out to me, he's under constant attack because at the center of the largest environmental suit ever. If this decision dials the virulence back a little, that's what it takes.

[bemildred]

13. Well, I find it messy.

Generally, I support the right of citizens to insult politicians as often as they choose. I make an exception for journalists, and others who have pretensions which they ought to live up to in terms of objectivity and veracity, and who insist on certain protections in return. That leaves me free to not get too upset about this, but I have to wonder if Mr Correa would have done better to ignore these weasels, they might well have intended to provoke him into doing something like this that would "look bad."

[EFerrari]

14. You're likely right because when I read that column

it was not only virulent but also manipulative in a studied way. It wasn't just someone popping off, imo anyway.

[Bacchus39]

15. columnists need not be objective, they express a point of view

but lets say just your average Jose wrote a letter to the editor calling Rafa a dick-tator. would you support Jose's imprisonment?

[bemildred]

16. Thank you for clearing that up.

I would let Jose walk. The guy in the OP that Correa wants $80 mil from, I would allow the case to be litigated as slander or libel or whatever, but find the sentence mentioned a bit much. The problem here is that there is no side I want to be on. In the end this is a political issue, in a functioning and legitimate political society, politics must be CIVIL. That is lacking here, so de facto, as in the good old USA, one has a sort of cold civil war going on, and everybody pursues expediency and self-interest, and "things fall apart." A sorry situation and a sorry comment on the societies where that sort of disfunction and division is the norm, not to mention that it leaves them open to outside exploitation.

[naaman fletcher]

17. The ends justify the means

"If this decision dials the virulence back a little, that's what it takes."

Not a very progressive, liberal, or democratic ideal.