Future head of Supercom must investigate excesses, says Roldán

Ecuadornews:

The Private Secretary of the Presidency explained the purpose of the official who will be appointed from a list of three jurists that the Executive sent to the Council of Transitory Participation on Monday.

Three lawyers make up the shortlist of the future Superintendent of Communication and Information (Supercom), whose mission will be to investigate possible excesses committed during the administration of Carlos Ochoa.

The jurists Édison Toro Calderón (official of the Secom), Rosa Alba Guevara and Ricardo Freire Granja (of the Cordicom), are the members of the list sent by the Executive to the Council of Citizen Participation and Transitory Social Control (CPCCST).

The private secretary of the Presidency, Juan Sebastián Roldán, extended details about the Executive’s decision. He argued that “the persecution and attacks of those who were victims of the media and journalists” will be investigated during the 10 years of Rafael Correa’s government.

The permanence of the new Superintendent, which will have a more supervisory role, will depend mainly on the plenary session of the National Assembly. This, due to the fact that the Executive referred his project of reforms to the Organic Law of Communication (LOC) to the Assembly, where it includes the elimination of the mentioned organism.

At the moment, said reform proposal and others are analyzed by the Collective Rights Commission of the National Assembly, chaired by Jorge Corozo (Alianza PAIS). For Roldán, the duration of the Superintendence will depend on the time that the Assembly occupies to process the reforms.

While this is done and after the designation of the CPCCST, the new official will also determine the length of time that his investigation will last, where, for example, the excesses that existed in the Supercom will be prioritized.

Even the Private Secretary highlighted, during a press conference in Carondelet, that in the first year of the Moreno Presidency the Superintendency did not establish sanctions. In addition, the findings of the new official’s investigation will be public.

In cases where there are alleged links for a crime, the information will be sent to the Office of the Prosecutor and in other cases to the ordinary courts, if warranted. “There can be no other body that attacks and persecutes freedom of expression and the media as the Supercom did previously,” said Roldán.

Ochoa Administration

In October 2013, Carlos Ochoa assumed the Supercom; In December of that year, El Universo was fined 2% of its income for a caricature it published. On March 27, 2014, Extra newspaper was sanctioned by the Sexy Monday space. On October 19, 2016, Radio Redonda in a sports space was also subject to sanctions. In April 2017, Expreso, Canal Uno, Teleamazonas and Ecuavisa were sanctioned for disseminating the results of an exit poll from Cedatos. (I)

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/3/supercom-terna-investigacion-carlos-ochoa