article from December 26, 2011
By Jamie Douglas
Welcome back to the real world of South American banana
republic politics – and Argentina is not even a banana exporter!
During the final 48 hours that the 2011 Argentinean Congress
was in session, they managed to ram through several Kirchner administration
bills, one in particular aimed to strengthen the president’s arsenal in the epic
battle of Cristina v Clarín. Her
attempts to muffle if not silence the opposition press are taking an ever-more
crude approach. This time, her thinly veiled attempts are made in the supposed
name of “national interest,” very similar to what Hugo Chávez did in Venezuela
and Rafael Correa has done to the press in Ecuador, which is to put a muzzle on
it!
The newsprint law was passed by both the Senate and Congress
following along the lines of her reelection margin. So it is certain in my mind
that the people of this Southern Cone nation will get what they ordered: a
repressive totalitarian state, where the supply of newsprint is controlled by
the government. As Liliana Fellner of the Upper House’s Victory Front and head
of the Freedom of Speech Committee stated,
“[the] initiative is aimed to end the quotas imposed on provincial newspapers,”
while the minority opposition labeled the bill “a restriction on the freedom of
expression as well as of the importation of newsprint.”
Presidenta Cristina has made numerous appeals to Congress to
pass this law quickly, in order to give her more control and power over Clarín and La Prensa.
One organization speaking out against this law is the Inter
American Press Association (IAPA). But the chairman of that august body,
Gustavo Mohme, seems to suffer from delusions, or he has just completely lost
focus of what has been going on in Argentina, not just recently but also throughout
its whole history. The IAPA described as “malicious” the “attempts by the
Argentinean government to control press freedom through the adaptation of the
new laws, regarding importation, production and distribution of newsprint,”
proclaiming the new law to be clearly unconstitutional because of its suppression
of the freedom of the press.
Mohme hopes that the affected parties will resort to the
courts, where, he is sure (!) that an eventual ruling (in 10 years or so) will
declare the law unconstitutional, as it directly contravenes Article 32 of the
nation’s constitution and all precedents in inter-American case law that
prohibit the free distribution of ideas.
Only two problems with that: 1) Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner owns the Supreme Court. And 2) Newsprint is not an idea; it is a
commodity that may be used by subversives to undermine the authority of a
corrupt and disingenuous government.
Maybe it is just a coincidence that on Wednesday, Dec 21,
about 50 heavily armed federal police officers stormed the offices of Cablevisión, owned by Clarín, and ordered the building cleared
while a government appointed auditor from Mendoza Province, accompanied by an order
from a judge from Mendoza Province as well, entered the building in search of
incontrovertible evidence of malfeasance.
It may be worth noting that La Cristina has just visited Mendoza
and that Mendoza is 1,000 km from Buenos Aires, where the raid took place.
Interior Minister Florencio Randazo proclaimed it was nonsense to suggest that
the raid was carried out on the orders of the government! Very interesting; so
who carried out the raid? Privateers?
Jamie Douglas
San Rafael, Mendoza
I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with
any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any
travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free
of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial
counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.
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