MADRID, Spain.- The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) regretted the presence of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Ministers Denis Moncada of Nicaragua and Gil Pinto of Venezuela at the VII Summit of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which begins this Tuesday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
These three regimes, invited by the Government of Alberto Fernández, president pro tempore of CELAC, “are the three most repressive governments of freedom of the press and expression and journalism in the Americas,” denounced the IAPA in a release shared this Monday.
Just as he specified that these three dictatorships occupy the last three positions of 22 countries in the Chapultepec Indexa barometer that measures the state of freedom of the press and expression in the Americas.
“We regret that these leaders who violate human rights and disbelieve in democracy have been invited by an organization that, among its objectives, includes the promotion of a respectful dialogue capable of building consensus on issues of common interest,” said Michael Greenspon, president of the IAPA.
For this reason, Greenspon points out, “CELAC standards should be reviewed from the perspective of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which obliges all countries of the continent to respect freedom of the press and expression.” And he recalls that “without that commitment, no government can be considered democratic.”
For his part, the president of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, considered that the region’s democratic rulers should demand that Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela put a stop to the repression against journalists, social leaders, and dissidents. politicians.
In the specific case of Cuba, the Inter-American Press Association recalled that “it is another critical protagonist of exiles and detentions that seriously harm freedom of expression.”
This weekend, After learning about the participation of these regimes in the CELAC Summit, the International Institute of Race, Equality and Rights displayed 200 posters in Buenos Aires in favor of the release of the political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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