ANNUAL REPORT ON PRESS FREEDOM IN ARGENTINA DURING 1997

Compiled by Periodistas, the Argentinean Association for the Defence of Independent
Journalism, December 1997, Buenos Aires.

There can be little doubt that 1997 was the year of the greatest regression in press freedom in Argentina since the restoration of democracy in 1983. If in previous years, repressive bills on press freedom and lawsuits against journalists presented by government officials threatened the consolidation of a right won with great difficulty, in 1997 the murder of photographer José Luis Cabezas, the proliferation of attacks, threats and insults against journalists, official treatment of the press as a political rival and the encouragement by President Carlos Menem to attack the press by saying that citizens had "a right to give (the press) a beating": all helped put freedom of thought and expression in a serious predicament.

A positive point was the ratification of the "real malice" doctrine which the Supreme Court had already introduced in the Morales Solá case in December 1996. The Court invoked it in a case in which the publisher of the daily Río Negro, Julio Rajneri, had been sued for slander by a government official.

By the end of the year, the decision of a private TV channel to pull two of its shows because of pressure from the government created a new type of threat against freedom of expression: that of media owners who have other business interests. In the case of the programs Día D led by journalist Jorge Lanata, and Las patas de la mentira produced by Miguel Rodríguez Arias, the main shareholder of the América TV channel which aired the programs is also in one of the groups bidding in the privatization of 33 domestic airports. Information on the cancellation of the journalists' contracts was communicated by people close to government before it was announced by the channel authorities.

So notorious was the breakdown of press freedom -reflected in editorials in international dailies and statements freedom of expression organizations- that President Bill Clinton of the USA became interested in the matter during his visit to Argentina in October. Further, Clinton proposed the creation of a Press Ombudsman within the Organization of American States (OAS). Clinton met with four journalist (two of them members of Periodistas) to express his concern. During the meeting he received a photograph of José Luis Cabezas and he rejected the threats against the press.

The horrific murder of Cabezas at the resort town of Pinamar, which aimed to convey a message of terror to the media, is not isolated. It has to be placed against a background of hostility against independent journalism that has existed for many years. From the burned body of Cabezas, to the threats and attacks suffered by other colleagues, and even up to a bill to gag the press by way of the judiciary, are all parts of an atmosphere of pressure against those whose job is to report information.

The relation between action and intent was to be seen in the three days sequence that lasted from president Carlos Menem's proposition to limit the freedom of the press with what he called the "law of the stick", to the abduction of former Navy captain, Adolfo Scilingo. Four men who identified themselves as police officers abducted him and carved on his forehead (with a pocketknife) the initials of three journalists, as a way of threatening them as well. The incident gained in importance locally when it appeared on the front page of The New York Times, even though it only aroused a remark of indifference from the President: "I don't trust that man", he said. Menem also disqualified The New York Times. He called the daily's editorial a "coarse and awkward falsehood, produced by false information" (published on September 16, and where he was also accused of "encouraging violence"). But on September 19, after strong public reaction, the President apologized. In a statement addressed to our association, Periodistas, he dismissed the remark as "an anecdote" and dismissed any harmful intention in his words. In the last sentence of his communiqué, Menem reiterated his "unvarying will to continue to fight for the respect of those liberties", referring to the freedom of the press and expression.

However, the aggression against journalists continued and the President's assurance proved hollow, as has often happened with promises from his government.

Every time that there is an anonymous telephone threat, government officials promise to investigate, "whosoever it may be", a phrase that has become a ritual which means nothing. There has been no concrete measures aimed at identifying the culprits, even though the Interior Ministry received a proposal which made it technically possible, and at a moderate cost, by an engineer and columnist, Ariel Garbarz, which would permit tracking of the telephone from which the threats were made within seconds. Santo Biasatti, radio and television journalist and one of the founders of Periodistas, received four threats in one month. Even when his telephones had been bugged by court order, the calls were never traced because of alleged technological problems that were never explained. The only case solved in years by the security forces was one in which a mentally disturbed person who, besides threatening journalists, had also intercepted the communication system on the President's plane.

In spite of the lack of investigation, there have been offers of security guards for some of those threatened, but the inefficiency contributes to strengthen the feeling of defencelessness that the attacks convey. The police intervention did not prevent daylight access to a children's school, where the sister of journalist Antonio Fernández Llorente had her hand slashed by an attacker. The same had already happened to a public prosecutor, Pablo Lanusse, and to two of his sisters (families have become targets to reinforce the effect of a threat and the terror of feeling even more unprotected, and thereby a job is put in jeopardy as a matter of responsibility). The official protection was not enough either to prevent an unspent bullet being carefully placed on the doormat inside the front door to radio journalist Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú's apartment. The police officer standing outside the front door of the building did not notice anything strange.

These anonymous actions coexist with others in which an official hand can be seen. The punching of Jorge Lanata came from a person related to the former director of the government's TV channel; posters promising to reveal secrets about journalist Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú had the imprint of a non-existent magazine, but were printed in a business connected with a former presidential advisor; an article by a former congressman against Mariano Grondona was allegedly dictated by the President, according to testimony by journalist Gabriela Cerruti, who saw the author coming out of Menem's office. A TV show on the government channel on which journalists had the backing of the head of State. The President referred in an offensive manner to journalist Horacio Verbitsky on two occasions, in a press conference with foreign correspondents and more recently, in an interview with journalists. In both cases, the insults were in answer to information published by the journalist which the President could not deny.

As in 1993 and 1995, these events coincided with an elections campaign, in which the Government tried to involve journalists. It is difficult not to remember Menem's speech from the balcony of Government House on May 14, 1995, when he celebrated his reelection. "We have defeated not only the opposition parties but the media as well," he said. This statement tends to discredit information on topics uncomfortable to the Government, for example, corruption.

When producing its annual report on press freedom during 1997, Periodistas reiterates its conviction that in a free and pluralistic society, independent journalism is an essential source of information and analysis and an instrument of control of government by civil society. All that tends to restrict freedom or to harass those who work in the press affects the freedom of citizens and democracy.

Buenos Aires, December 1997.

Chronology

JANUARY

January 25: José Luis CABEZAS, a photographer with Noticias magazine, was found murdered in a burnt-out car near the beach resort of Pinamar, southeast of Buenos Aires. He had been handcuffed, shot in the head, and the car set ablaze. A highly regarded photographer, he had been sent to Pinamar to seek pictures of holidaying government officials and top businessmen.

Journalists threatened: DAVILA, correspondent for El Diario, Corrientes; Daniel NAVARRO y Juan Carlos PELLEGRINI, both for Canal 9; Alejandro COLUSSI, Radio Universidad de Santa Fe; Orlando GUZMAN, La Columna, Santiago del Estero.

FEBRUARY

February 7: Santo BIASATTI, a well-known radio and TV journalist, received an anonymous call saying that "he would suffer the same fate as Cabezas". This was followed by warnings that "we will kill you and your granddaughter". On February 10, a message was left alleging that provincial policemen would be carrying out a contract to abduct him. On February 21, he received the fourth threat in a month at the same telephone of Radio Rivadavia where he had received the first one. The phone should had been bigged by the police after a judge's order, but the last threatening call could not be traced because of "technical problems".

February 26: The owner of TV channel América, Eduardo Eurnekian, pulled a program anchored by Marcelo LONGOBARDI, Alfredo LEUCO, Roman LEJTMAN and Luis MAJUL, in which the journalists were going to show the President's home in Anillaco, in La Rioja province, including a landing-strip longer than that at the Jorge Newbery domestic flights airport in Buenos Aires. "We know that there have been pressures from the Government to avoid showing this report", said Luis Majul. The Government denied the pressures. By public demand, the report on Anillaco was shown and many questions arose about the source of the money used to build the landing-field. The Government only gave contradictory versions. A federal judge started procedings for illegal enrichment and the TV program was stopped.

Kidnapped: Mario AVILA, employee for the daily El Periodico of San Miguel de Tucumán.

Threatened: Fernando WILHEIM, correspondent for the daily Río Negro; Rubén SARMIENTO, general secretary of the Press Union of Entre Rios; Daniel ENZ, director of magazine Análisis from Paraná and journalists Luis María SORROELS, Leonardo PEREZ, Antonio TARDELLI and photographers Gustavo GERMANO, and Sergio RUIZ; Fernando BRAVO, daily Río Negro; cartoonist Alfredo SABAT; Nelson CASTRO, anchorman for Radio Del Plata; Fanny MANDELBAUM journalist for Telefe; Carlos CARMELE, Daniel VELOSO, for daily Hoy; Mauricio NIEVAS for daily El Día; Fabián RUBINACI, for América TV; Mario BRITOS, radio FM Capitán Giachino of Santiago del Estero; Jose ELIASCHEV, Radio Del Plata; Verónica POLET, Channel 74 of VCC; Eduardo PELAEZ, secretary of the Federacion Argentina de Trabajadores de Prensa; Jose STELLANO, member of the Press Union of Tandil; Rubén SANTIS, El Espejo, Tandil; Jorge KOSTINGER and Vanesa FEUER, both for radio FM Resistencia of Mar del Plata; Ramón OCAMPO, radio FM 88 of Vicente López; Sergio ELGUEZABAL, Channel 13; Ana FIOL, Radio Universidad de Santa Fe; Gabriela ROJAS PEREZ, daily Sentido Común of San Martin, Ana GUZZETTI, correspondent for Télam press agency in Trenque Lauquen; Alejandro CANCELARES, for Multicanal 9 of Tres de Febrero; Julio FERNANDEZ CORTES, director of daily La Unión of Lomas de Zamora; Paz TEJERINA, Tiempos del Mundo; Susana WEIDEMANN, Multicanal of San Martín.

MARCH

March 1: Former police officer Carlos FERNANDEZ was arrested and accused of being the author of the threats against Santo Biasatti.

March 2: Journalist Mario DOMINGUEZ for FM América of the town of Yuto in Jujuy was injured by a bullet on a provincial route. In February Domínguez had denounced the local mayor and the Sports Secretary of belonging to a criminal gang. After that he started to receive death threats.

March 7: Carlos Fernández, the alleged attacker of Santo Biasatti, was released from jail by judge Cesar Quiroga. Fernández recognised that he had been the author of the call warning that the journalist was going to be abducted by a gang of provincial policemen but denied having made the others. Meanwhile Biasatti received more threatening calls during the weekend that Fernández spent in jail.

March 31: Journalist José Luis Basualdo of the daily El Chubut of Puerto Madryn was beaten and threatened by two unknown men who took him out of his car, tried to burn his hair, hit him and simulated an execution. Basualdo, who had to be taken into hospital, had been writing a series of articles about a robbery in which a policeman of Puerto Madryn was involved.

Threatened: José María BAEZ, journalist for radio La Red; Julio GUTIERREZ, for the daily El Yaguareté and Fabio SILVERO, both from the city of Esquina, in Corrientes; Juan FERNANDEZ and Carlos PAEZ for a local radio station in Lules, Tucuman; Edgardo WELSH DE BAIRO, director of the daily Tiempo Fueguino from Ushuaia; Ana FIOL, for Radio Universidad de Santa Fe; Edgardo MILLER, for Canal 9; the Teatro Municipal General San Martín, where José Luis Cabezas photographs' were on show; Susana VIAU, for Página/12; Sebastián CONDE and Flavio DIMITRI, photographers for Caras magazine; Paulo GERSTEIN, director of the daily En Foco of Valentín Alsina; Estela JORQUERA and Enrique CAMINO, of the daily Río Negro; Nino Romero, of Radio Nacional of San Luis; Pedro PARPAGNOLI, for TV Channel Tele Río of Concepción del Uruguay, was run over by Peronist senator Hector Maya; Pablo FELDMAN, editor for the daily Rosario/12.

APRIL

April 3: Peronist senator for Misiones province, Julio César HUMADA, threatened and attacked a reporter for Mensaje magazine, which had published photographs of his luxury home. Sixto FARIÑA, the injured journalist had to be taken to hospital after the senator grabbed him by the neck and kicked him. Anibal KOWALSKI, the magazine's editor, had also been threatened by Humada.

Threatened: Jorge CALDAS VILLAR, journalist for Radio Pinamar; Carlos RODRIGUEZ, of Página/12; Mirta ESPINA, of Radio Río Gallegos; Pablo ZABALETA, editor of the daily La Arena, of Santa Rosa, La Pampa.

Beaten by police during public demonstrations: Luciano FERRARI, cameraman for the CVN channel; and some journalists during a demonstration in Cutral-Co and Plaza Huincul.

MAY

May 19: The Interior Minister Carlos Corach asks for the creation of a court of ethics for journalists, "to investigate and punish those who do not fulfil the rules of journalistic ethic".

May 27: Journalists Marcelo HELFGOT and Alberto FERRARI, are sentenced by the Supreme Court to pay 50.000 dollars for "moral damages" caused to Judge Dora Gesualdi, who signed an out-of-court agreement negotiated by Ministry of the Interior. The journalists were exempted from paying the compensation by agreeing not to take their case to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, so avoiding the Court's sentence being publicly questioned. The judge was offended by an article on the divorce of the President Carlos Menem written in the magazine El Porteño, in which she was not mentioned.

Threatened: Bernardo LEONARDI, from the Municipio de la Costa; Fabián PAGE, owner of the FM Aéreo and Horizonte of Calafate, in Santa Cruz.

Beaten by military forces during public demonstrations: Cristian RODRIGUEZ, journalist for FM Independencia of Libertador San Martín, Jujuy; Cesar PEREZ LUGONES, for Crónica TV; Rodolfo FLORES, for radio FM Independencia; Juan Carlos TOLEDO and the photographer Antonio CARRIZO, of La Voz del Interior of Córdoba; Jose FIGUEROA, photographer of Clarín and a reporter for Canal 26 of Jujuy.

JUNE

June 5: Antonio FERNANDEZ LLORENTE, a journalist with Canal 13 television, was threatened as a result of his coverage outside the courthouse in Dolores, investigating the murder of José Luis Cabezas. That day the journalist's mother received telephone call warning her that if her son did not stop covering the case, the family would suffer

June 12: Fernández Llorente was threatened for the second time in a week. A false bomb threat was made to a nursery school where one of Fernández's nephews is a pupil. Fernández said that he had no intention of leaving the Cabezas case.

June 17: Two envelopes, one with a de-activated letter bomb and another with a threatening message, were received at La Nación addressed to associate editor Jose Claudio ESCRIBANO, who is also president of the Asociación de Entidades Periodísticas Argentinas (ADEPA), whose members are publishers of Argentina's newspapers.

"This time it was sent to the newspaper; the next time it could be to your home", said the message to Escribano, "This time it was a joke, but the next time it will be for real". The letters sent to Escribano were received by his secretary at La Nación. He was out of the country.

June 17: During a press conference for foreign corespondents, president Carlos Menem called journalist Horacio VERBITSKY "one of the biggest terrorists in Argentina" and added that "he is a terrorist who is passing judgement on honest and decent people". Menem made the remarks after one of the journalists present asked about the contents of an article by Verbitsky in the newspaper Página/12. This said the government had sent the Senate a request for promotion of a military officer charged with having managed a secret detention and torture centre during the last military dictatorship. The officer, Carlos Enrique Villanueva, is accused by as least eleven witness who have accused him of many clandestine kidnappings, torture and executions. Legal proceedings against Villanueva were dropped in 1987, following the Due Obedience Law (Ley de Obediencia Debida), which stopped trials against low-ranking military officers accused of participating in the state inspired repression.

June 23: María José FERNANDEZ LLORENTE, the sister of Antonio Fernández Llorente, a journalist on Canal 13 television, was attacked by three men. "If your brother doesn't return from Dolores within 48 hours, we are going to carry out our threats. He's talking nonsense", warned one of the men. "Slash her face", said another, while another of the attackers said, "no, not her face", and cut her left hand twice with a pocket-knife. The attack took place in Palermo Chico, a residential area of Buenos Aires, as the woman was stepping out of a taxi. Her attackers overtook the security personnel, which had been detailed to protect the family by the Ministry of the Interior, following two threats against them in the last twenty days.

Antonio Fernández Llorente had been in Dolores for Canal 13, covering the murder of photojournalist José Luis Cabezas. Hours after the attack on his sister, Canal 13 removed Fernández Llorente from Dolores for security reasons.

June 24: Journalist Magdalena RUIZ GUIÑAZU was sent four anonymous death threats by telephone through the offices of Noticias magazine. "The next time it's going to be Magdalena", was the phrase repeated at 9:30 am by a woman, and at 10:30 am, and at 12:05 pm by a man, according to the editor of Noticias Hector D'Amico.

Ruiz Guiñazú is the host of one of the most popular radio programs, Magdalena Tempranísimo, broadcast on Radio Mitre. On Mondays, she co-hosts Dos en la Noticia on Canal 9, with Joaquin Morales Sola, and writes for the daily La Nación. In 1984, under President Raul Alfonsín, Ruiz Guiñazú was made a member of the commission responsible for hearing reports on people who "disappeared" during the military dictatorship.

Threatened: Osvaldo FERNANDEZ, FM Moebius of Olavarria; Daniel ORTIZ, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro; Julio GIMENEZ, daily Río Negro; Norberto ASQUINI, daily La Arena, Santa Rosa, La Pampa; Genoveva BEIGIER, Radio América; Cecilia PIROLO, Torneos y Competencias channel; Claudio LEVERONI, Radio Del Plata and Liliana LOPEZ FORESI.

JULY

July 1: The Supreme Court cleared the editor of the daily Río Negro, Julio RAJNERI, in a libel suit that the president of the provincial branch of the Union Civica Radical party had initiated. The court ratified the real malice doctrine which had been established in 1996 in the Morales Solá case.

July 2: Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú found a 38 calibre bullet in front of the door to her flat. After reporting the incident to police station 17 in Buenos Aires, Ruiz Guiñazú explained, "while I was having lunch somebody left a bullet at the foot of my home, in yet another incident of violence against journalism."

In order to carry out the threat, those responsible had to overcome both the entrance to her building, which is usually locked, and a police guard who was assigned to protect Ruiz Guiñazú in response to previous threats against her. The officer on duty claimed not to have noticed what ocurred. "This is a very clear message: leaving a bullet to say that the next time they will hit their target", said the journalist.

July 12: Journalist Jorge LANATA was hit in the face while at the wheel of his car, at a traffic light on 9 de Julio Avenue. Lanata, former editor-in-chief of the daily Página/12 and host of a television programme, was assaulted at 16:30 hours, his seven years old daughter was with him in the car. The journalist said that, when he stopped at a traffic light on the avenue, a man aged about 40, wearing a blue pullover approached and punched him on his right cheek. The attacker then ran to a motorcycle on which another individual was waiting and fled.

July 13: The man who attacked Jorge Lanata surrendered to police. The attacker, who's name is Juan Bezbaj, was employed by state television ATC as a messenger. Lanata said the attack was linked to a report on ATC and its director, Horacio Frega. In a recent program, Lanata reported on an attempt to privatize the station through a contract between ATC and a Cayman Islands network. Federal Police Chief Adrian Pelacchi, however, accepted Bezbaj's version that the incident was a result of a traffic dispute. In his 13 July programme, Lanata said Bezbaj has a criminal record which includes assault and battery charges, one homicide charge and one larceny conviction.

July 13: Buenos Aires appeared covered up with posters against Magdalena RUIZ GUIÑAZU. The previous week the subject of the expensive poster campaign had been Jorge LANATA. The posters seemed to be the publicity of two magazines of irregular appearance financed by the Government.

July 13: Journalist Dario LOPREITE, who is in charge of the Del Plata radio booth in Government House, was threatened. Despite the police protection he had since the previous year, an unknown person called up to Lopreite`s home using the intercom at the door, asked for his wife by name and told her: "The next one is you".

July 15: Bezbaj was released on 800 pesos (US$ 800) bail, although he would remain under investigation for "light assault and battery".

July 15: Despite 24-hour police protection, journalist Hernán LOPEZ ECHAGÜE received a note in his mailbox; the note was sprayed with drops simulating blood and contained the names of his children and the address of his mother, who had moved only two months before. The message was made with letters cut from newspapers and magazines, and with passages of Echagüe's book El Otro, published early in 1997. The note ended with "Bye Lopez Echague, the Friends of Alberto Bujía, el negro". According to Echagüe, Bujía was the right-hand-man of Eduardo Duhalde, governor of Buenos Aires, for thirteen years until he died in a traffic accident. One chapter of El Otro tells the story of Bujia and of his death in suspicious circumstances; he died as he was named as a key witness in the so-called Narcogate case, in which Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon investigated connections within President Carlos Menem's circle -specifically his sister-in-law Amira Yoma- concerning the laundering of drug money. Bujia's family sued for damages, a lawsuit which, when he made the threat against him public, Lopez Echagüe said "they are about to lose".

July 19: The Cámara de Casación Penal (Oral Court) rejects a writ by President Menem against the not guilty verdict handed down in the case against Horacio Verbistky, Ernesto Tiffenberg and Fernando Sokolowicz -columnist, editor and publisher of Página/12 -on grounds that the sentence is "unconstitutional". The Court finds Carlos Menem's appeal "untidy" and lacking in fundament. The not guilty verdict by Judge María Laura Garrigós de Rébori remains in force. The journalists had reported on the conditions under which the President had been held under arrest during the military dictatorship.

July 31: Radio journalist Esteban TALPONE received a death message left on his answering machine. The anonymous caller said: "Watch out, because I'm going to kill you. I know all about you, everything. Watch out. Nothing matters to me". Talpone is general producer of the program El País Hoy, broadcast on Radio Mitre.

Talpone believed that the threat stemmed from his investigations into corruption at the Buenos Aires City Council. Talpone is co-author of a book on the subject, entitled The Palace of Corruption. At the time the arrest of the president of the City Council, José Manuel Pico, had been ordered on charges of fraud and embezzlement.

Also threatened: Elena TADDEI, journalist for Radio Municipal; Daniel Burcheri, for the daily La Zona of San Isidro; Armando CABRERA, of Radio Rosario; Liliana LOPEZ FORESI; Mariano BOBRYCK, editor of the weekly La Opinión de la Costa and assistant editor, Jorge Agnese.

AUGUST

August 8: Members of Congress were about to pass a government bill on public ethics for civil servants which would not have enforced arrest on charges of corruption, but imposed penalties on whistle blowers who revealed the contents of the tax statements of public officials. After an uproar in the press the penalties for whistle blowers were removed and, on 20 August, a modified bill was passed.

Threatened: Fernando MENENDEZ, journalist covering the Cabezas' case for the TV channel Telefé; Verónica JACOBSON, photographer for the Noticias magazine also covering the investigation of the Cabezas murder in Dolores; Alejandro CONSTANZO, threatened by the governor of San Luis; Alberto AGUAD, journalist of FM La Ciudad of La Rioja.

SEPTEMBER

September 5: In mid August 1997, low frequency community radio stations which broadcast on 98 Mhz were shut down. FM Ilusiones 98.5 and FM Del Sol 98.1, two of the radio stations in question, had broadcast for nine years with a provisional license granted by the Federal Broadcasting Authority (Comite Federal de Radiodifusion, COMFER). This permit is a legal and valid document held by all low frequency radio stations, which allows them to broadcast.

Federal Police, without COMFER inspectors, broke into the stations offices. At FM Ilusiones no court order was shown. All the station's broadcasting equipment was seized, and no inventory was made. Ernesto Arrieta, director of FM Ilusiones, was handcuffed and had a gun pointed at him. He was not permitted to call his lawyer. Miguel Mangano, director of FM Del Sol, was subjected to abuse. The police officer in charge of the break-ins claimed that they were going to "clean up" 160 radio stations in a 150 km area. The action against the community radio stations took place following a criminal complaint by the Vottionis company, owned by journalist Daniel Haddad. The company manages the radio station FM News which broadcasts on 98.3 frequency (the same as those raided).

September 8: President Carlos MENEM proposed applying the "law of the stick" -to encourage citizens offended by the media to take matters into their own hands- to limit press freedom. This measure was proposed in 1730 by Benjamin Franklin as a response to reports which might defame or tarnish the reputation of individuals.

September 11: Four men who identified themselves as police officers abducted a former captain in the Argentine navy, Adolfo SCILINGO, who was taken away in a Ford Falcon and beaten. His abductors used a pocket-knife to inscribe on his forehead and both cheeks the letters G, M and V. "For Grondona, Magdalena and Verbitsky, who are your associates", he was told. The letters refer to Mariano Grondona, Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú and Horacio Verbitsky, three well-known journalists and members of Periodistas.

Scilingo is an ex-marine who, in March 1995, confessed to having taken part in naval flights over the Atlantic during the 1970s, when "disappeared" captives were drugged and tossed into the sea. The captives had been held at the Navy's Mechanics School (Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada). Scilingo confessed to having thrown 30 people who were still alive into the ocean. He later appealed to military and national authorities to have the files of the Dirty War made known widely.

During his abduction, Scilingo's abductors mentioned two requests for private meetings that the former marine had made a week earlier to Minister of the Interior Carlos Corach and Governor Eduardo Duhalde to report that he had been the target of threats and harassment. "This is the private meeting you were looking for", Scilingo was told. They accused him of being part of a media operation to damage Argentina's image, Scilingo reported. When he told his abductors that he did not have any associates, one of them took out a knife and began to inscribe on Scilingo's face the initials of the three journalists. "The guy became really riled and started to cut up my face; blood landed all over his pants, as the knife wasn't sharp. When he began to cut my face, I was afraid that they were going to take out my eyes", said Scilingo. "My head was spinning for more than an hour while they insulted and cut me, yet it seemed like only minutes, judging by the speed with which everything happened. They insulted me and Mariano Grondona, Magdalena Ruiz Guiñazú and Horacio Verbistky", said the former naval officer. "We're going to kill them, they must be stopped", was the last threat that Scilingo heard.

September 13: The New York Times reports on its front page about Scilingo's abduction and about other attacks and threats against journalists, all of which are seen to be an attempt to stop reports on corruption.

September 16: In an editorial titled "War on the Media in Argentina", The New York Times accused President Menem of "encouraging violence", specially against journalists. After describing Scilingo's abduction, the editorial said: "President Carlos Menem seems to be encouraging violence. Three days before the attack on Scilingo, he publicly called for physical assaults against journalists who offend. Asked for comment on Mr. Scilingo's slashing, President Menem said, 'I have no confidence in his kind'. In eight years in office Mr. Menem has done a lot to modernise Argentina's economy, but he has stunted its democratic growth. He controls the congress and has packed the courts with corrupt judges. One institution he has not succeeded in dominating is the country's vigorous media."

September 17: President Carlos Menem called the New York Times' editorial a "coarse and awkward falsehood, produced by false information transmitted from here in the middle of an election campaign".

September 18: Human Rights Watch called on the Argentine Government to adopt urgent measures to clear up Scilingo's abduction.

September 19: After ten days of intense debate, President Menem apologised to the journalists and withdrew his suggestion of "the law of the stick". In a statement headed to Periodistas and sent to all editors, Menem said that "the Government has removed all obstacles so that journalists and media are able to do their task. However, an anecdote, which had no other aim than being only that, an anecdote, has provoked a disturbing reaction in the journalistic community. I don't want such an inconvenient remark to cause judgement of my principles and of my Government. I apologise and reiterate my unmoveable will to continue the struggle to attain the respect for those liberties".

September 22: Journalist, investigator and parliamentary advisor Carlos SUAREZ was kidnapped and subjected to an interrogation with a hood over his head. Suárez was abducted at 12:45 pm as he was about to enter his home in a residential district of Buenos Aires. Two men came at him with a gun and forced him to enter a blue car. After driving in different directions to confuse him, Suárez was taken to a house where his abductors place a hood over his head and interrogated him for approximately eight hours. Besides asking Suárez about the investigation he had been doing since 1994 about the links between the Miami-based group, headed by the anti-Castro leader Jorge Mas Canosa (who died in December 1997), and the administration af Carlos Menem, his abductors asked him if the had "passed information to that son of a bitch Verbitsky".

Suárez is to publish a book soon, entitled Globalization and the Mafia in Latin America, in which he describes the criminal activities of the Miami Group. Mas Canosa's representative in Argentina is José Luis Manzano, former Minister of the Interior in Menem's government.

Threatened: Andrew GRAHAM-YOOLL, editor of the English-language daily Buenos Aires Herald.

OCTOBER

October 4: Delfo RODRIGUEZ, the assistant head of photography of the daily Los Andes, in Mendoza, was arrested in a football stadium in Mendoza as he was covering a match. Rodríguez was taken to a police station where he was threatened by several officers who told him that "the same thing was going to happen to him" as happened to Jose Luis Cabezas.

The incident began when Rodríguez was arguing with a police officer who had denied the photographer to access by car to the players' change rooms, something which is normally allowed. The officer called his superior and told him that Rodríguez had insulted him. "We've got our eyes on him; he doesn't like the police, and he's one of those who's active in the Cabezas case", Rodríguez heard one of the police officers say. He was threatened again at the police station, where he was not allowed to call his family or a lawyer. Instead, he was strip-searched and placed in a cell with common criminals for six hours.

The detention and threats against Rodríguez occurred as police in Mendoza were being questioned regarding the excessive and repressive behaviour of some officers, including attacks against the media, shooting of unarmed persons, torture of prisoners, and the disappearance of individuals.

October 8: The Córdoba Press Union reported that a journalist in Villa Dolores, Miguel IZQUIERDO, had been "kicked and insulted" by Head of Cabinet Jorge Rodríguez, apparently for "asking questions that allegedly bothered him", during a visit by Rodríguez to the city, in the Northwest of Córdoba province.

According to journalists in Villa Dolores, on the morning of 4 October, during a press conference that Rodríguez was giving, he was questioned by Izquierdo, who asked him if the Villa Mercedes-Villa Dolores gas pipeline had been used to finance the government's election campaign. Izquierdo returned at noon, as Rodríguez was having lunch. During the evening, Izquierdo showed up for a third time, this time in front of Rodríguez when he was being interviewed by a journalist from the local television station. Izquierdo persisted with his question. According to the journalists' union report, Rodríguez lost his patience and reacted by insulting and kicking Izquierdo. Immediately after, Rodríguez reportedly said to one of his guards: "Take me away from him; I think I broke his leg".

Rodríguez later issued a communiqué "apologising" to Izquierdo, even though he gave a different version of the facts. According to Rodríguez, "as I was getting set for an exclusive interview with Channel 4 in Villa Dolores, a man appeared on the scene claiming to be an agent of the SIDE (Bureau of Intelligence). During the interview with Channel 4, this man began to ask questions insistently, which I readily answered. Then, this person spoke critically of President Menem, at which point I said that he was being rude. Then I chose to leave. If my statements and gestures in any way could be interpreted as aggressive, I offer to whomever feels aggrieved -journalist or not - my sincere apologies".

October 8: The Mendoza province government ordered the arrest of three police officers involved in the arrest, of the assistant chief of photography of the daily Los Andes, Delfo Rodríguez. Minister for Government Angel Cirasino stated that deputy chief of police, Pedro Pereyra, inspector Eduardo Torres and Ruben Quintana, of the Fifth Precinct of Mendoza were to be removed from their posts and held for nine days while the case was being investigated.

October 10: Formosa province Judge Ceferino Arroquigaray passed sentence of three months in prison suspended against the editor of El Comercial, Juan Honofre Amarilla, for publishing the contents of a police report of an armed robbery. The police report had identified a man who was later cleared, and who sued the paper for libel. The judge had been appointed by the provincial Chamber of Deputies, but his appointment had been objected by the local Bar Association on grounds he had been charged for forgery of a public document.

October 14: The community radio stations FM Del Sol 98.1, FM Ilusiones 98.5 and four other stations resumed broadcasting after judges ordered the return of equipment confiscated after they found that here was no case against them.

October 17: US President Bill Clinton meets Periodistas members, Nelson Castro y Roberto Guareschi, who hand him a photo of José Luis Cabezas. During a 35 minute interview which includes two other journalists (Julia Cass of the Buenos Aires Herald, and Germán Sopeña of La Nación), Clinton said he was aware of the wave of threats against journalists in Argentina.

October 20: During a radio interview by Radio América, Economy Minister Roque FERNANDEZ accused the media of plotting "a coup d'etat" against the Government of Carlos Menem. Fernández said that "the great successes that this Government has had are undermined by a kind of media coup d'etat which has reduced the historic 40 percent vote Peronism had. We should be winning by 60 per cent of the votes".

Also threatened by police in Mendoza: Angel Diego ACOSTA, journalist for radio El Nihuil; Juan José MARTINEZ, of the daily Uno.

NOVEMBER

November 23: During an interview with a group of journalists, President Carlos Menem referred to Horacio Verbitsky, a founding member of Periodistas, in a disparaging manner because of a journalistic investigation published that day in the daily Página/12. According to official information made public by the Press Secretariant, the first question asked by the journalists concerned the report by Verbitsky about an attempt to cancel the debt of companies owned by the Yoma family (related to Menem through his former wife) through the planned privatization of the Banco Nación, one of the remaining state-owned banks but which is first in terms of deposits. Menem's response was: "It's a statement made by a true criminal, a terrorist who has not yet been judged by society, as he should be. He is responsible for many deaths in Argentina, and he makes such a claim (about the alleged cancellation) without any base in fact. I have nothing to do with the Yoma group but for my marriage to the sister of the current owners of the firm. Moreover, this plan to privatise the bank does not stem from a proposal by the President of the Nation; rather, it has been in place for a long time and is an idea of the Minister of Finance. It is nothing more than an idea. However, we know all too well what this person (Verbitsky) does with such ideas, who has always caused harm not only to the President of the Nation but also to all governing officials, and who, I repeat, was one of the principal players in the Dirty War in Argentina for many years."

In an opinion page piece published on 25 November in Página/12, Verbitsky answered Menem's accusations. "The transcript of these desperate words allows one to assess who is causing harm in the form of a response -a response not to an act of terrorism but to a journalistic article full of information that has not been nor can be denied. The author of the article is not responsible for anyone's death, in any time or place. He has always lived in Argentina and was never detained nor tried for an illegal act. He has merely had to withstand the constant complaints filed by the Head of State and the members of his government because of his work as a journalist, and in every instance he has been absolved", wrote Verbitsky.

November 30: Jorge Lanata announced that América TV had cancelled his contract for the program Día D, although it is the channel's second in rating, and is only beaten in its time slot by the football matches and by Mariano Grondona's Hora Clave.

Threatened: Daniel ENZ, Análisis magazine.

DECEMBER

December 2: Página/12 reported that Jorge Lanata heard that his contract was cancelled not from the Channel authorities but from the President's former brother-in-law, Emir Yoma. Yoma's press chief, Guillermo Cherasny, also announced that a program about politicians' blunders, produced by Miguel Rodríguez Arias, Las patas de la mentira, would also be cancelled.

December 17: At 10.30 a.m. producer Miguel Rodríguez Arias advised Periodistas' office that as a result of América TV's offer to start a new series, with his same team, he had agreed to resume production of Las patas de la mentira, although in a different setting. The series director, Lalo Mir, will continue with the program. "We will have complete freedom of content," said Rodríguez Arias.

December 25: The newspaper El Oeste, of Esquel, Chubut province, suffered an arson attack on its archives and photographic files. According to police, the arsonists entered by a window and destroyed much of the property. Editor José Agustín Morán Aguilar said the attack may have been as a result of the paper's investigation into "half a dozen murders which remain unexplained," in the Esquel area. The paper is published on Friday, December 26, and announces that it will continue to print, even if it is on the "school copying machine". That day Chubut governor Carlos Maestro confirms that the fire was intentional.