H.E. Mireya Moscoso
President
Palacio de las Garzas
Presidencia de la República
Panamá 1
Republic of Panama
Fax: (011.507) 227-0073
Your Excellency:
We write to protest your country@quot;s part in the continuing worldwide abuse of press freedom.
On this day, World Press Freedom Day, there are — to the best of our knowledge –193 journalists imprisoned in the jails of 29 countries, most of them solely for having done their jobs. Panama is one of the 29, and we are informed that you have in custody Blas Julio Rodriguez, former journalist with Diario El Siglo and founder of the weekly, La Verdad .
Julio Rodriguez was reported to have been arrested on May 21, 2002, and detained on charges of extortion. A businessman named by Julio Rodriguez as a drug trafficker and money launderer had lodged the charges, presumably in reprisal for the accusation. Julio Rodriguez was found guilty in 2003 of two separate defamation charges, but both sentences were commuted to fines. On the extortion charge, however, a Superior Court found in 2002 that his detention was legal. He was reported in November 2003 to be in La Joya prison. He is hypertensive and is said to be suffering severe health problems.
Your Excellency, Julio Rodriguez should be released both on principle and as a matter of expediency.
The principle is simple, as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “”Everyone,? according to the Declaration, ?has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”” U.N. members recognize that this right is sometimes inconvenient and troublesome. Yet, it is crucial to uphold, and for practical reasons: A nation that stifles freedom of thought and expression forfeits the good opinion of the world and isolates itself. This may prompt political or economic sanctions, with loss of diplomatic influence and domestic prosperity; at the least, it relegates a country to the company of North Korea, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or Zimbabwe. And in long or short order, a repressive regime will be overturned.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an independent organization that has defended press freedom around the world for 65 years, urges you to re-think your policy, to welcome free expression of ideas and opinions, and to release Blas Julio Rodriguez.
The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated.
Respectfully yours,
Larrry Martz
Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee