Assemblyman rejects criticisms from the IAPA

Octavio Villacreses

Last Monday Assemblyman of Alianza PAIS (AP) Octavio Villacreses, rejected the statement issued last Friday by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), which states that “the government of Rafael Correa is trying to expand its policy of restrictions towards freedom of press and expression to all the countries of Latin America.”

“They blame Rafael Correa when I gave the statement, and now that we speak about them, they go around with baseless comments with the sole purpose of attacking the president,” said Assemblyman.

Last week at a meeting of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) in Panama, Villacreses presented a project of Frame Communications Law based on the Ecuadorian Communications Law. The project proposes, among other things, the creation of a “Superintendency” for the compliance of Frame Law on the rest of Latin America.

Villacreses’s proposal also caused rejection from the National Journalism Council (CNP for its Spanish acronym), which brings together companies, unions and academics in Panama. On declarations to Panamanian media, Eduardo Quirós, president of the CNP, said that exporting the idea of ​​a Superintendency like the Ecuadorian one to the rest of Latin America would be “disastrous.” “This is a project that aims to create a ‘straitjacket’ on freedom of press, freedom of expression and freedom of information,” he said.