IN BRIEFS
“You homo, stop talking so much on the radio or you’ll have to leave Valledupar,” began a text message Enrique Camargo received last December. Camargo is the director of Radio Guatapurí, based in...
...We’re always careful that what we publish about one armed group does not cause us problems with another side...
...About the Author Weekly News Update on the Americas is published by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York...
...In one case, the Popular Social Bloc, one of El Salvador’s largest progressive coalitions, signed a pact with the FMLN weeks before the recent election in support of the party’s platform...
...For subscription information, visit: http://home.earthlink.net/~nicadlw/wnuhome.html...
...His lawyers say he is in a cold, wet cell and isn’t receiving medicine for a gastrointestinal condition...
...The U.S...
...Despite being outspent by its main opponent by nearly 20 to one, the political party of the former guerrilla movement was able to capture one of El Salvador’s most important political offices—as well as the head post of other cities—while also increasing its presence in the National Assembly...
...About the Author Burke Stansbury is the executive director for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES...
...authorities released Camacho on parole on August 17, 2004, but he refused to accept the terms of his parole...
...It could cost you...
...But with an official margin of only 44 votes, the opposition Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) immediately set out to use its position within the electoral tribunal to contest the victory...
...military spokesperson Robert Appin, a total of about 3,500 U.S...
...But these are only the documented cases, and in the first three months of this year alone, 15 journalists have received threats, mostly from the paramilitaries...
...troops are also scheduled to participate in “New Horizons” operations in Honduras, Peru and El Salvador this year...
...Some reporters receive clear instructions about towing the party line, which in practice means supporting President Álvaro Uribe’s “Democratic Security” policy...
...The soldiers began to arrive in February and will leave at the end of May, Appin said...
...Journalists across Colombia also face pressure from some media bosses who have been tacitly goaded by government officials about what can be published...
...At RCN, a privately owned news network, this particularly applies to the controversial government-sponsored “demobilization” of the paramilitaries...
...During elections all sides in the armed conflict and the candidates are particularly vigilant and sensitive about any press reports that may harm their campaign and/or undermine their authority in a particular area...
...federal bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Puerto Rican nationalist Antonio Camacho Negrón on March 28 on a street in Río Piedras, near San Juan, after he had addressed the opening of the First National Congress for Decolonization at the University of Puerto Rico...
...When the votes were counted in San Salvador’s mayoral race, the FMLN candidate, former guerrilla leader Violeta Menjivar, proclaimed victory as the first-ever female mayor of San Salvador...
...The official consensus at RCN is that demobilizing the paramilitaries is a positive step for future peace in Colombia and is something that should be supported,” said the reporter...
...Camacho, who is 65, is being held in solitary confinement in the federal prison in Guaynabo...
...With the death of its longtime leader, a challenge for the FMLN will be its continuing efforts to expand its grassroots ties with social activists in the streets, be they union militants, students, women or campesinos...
...This becomes even more acute during election time when the sides want to influence voters...
...We’re watching you...
...In this climate of intimidation, few journalists dare to delve into the murky past of some election candidates, investigate illegal sources of campaign funds and reveal corruption scandals for fear of reprisals from those they implicate...
...The limitations we face come from working in the context of an armed conflict,” says Flores...
...In other news, protests in the Dominican Republic have been building since U.S...
...About the Author Anastasia Moloney is a freelance journalist based in Bogot...
...The death of longtime FMLN leader Jorge Schafik Handal on January 24 and the massive outpouring of support that followed—an estimated 100,000 people overwhelmed the streets of El Salvador for his funeral—led to a bump in the polls for the FMLN and helped galvanize the left ahead of the elections...
...Federal authorities couldn’t explain why they had waited nearly two years to arrest Camacho, despite his participation in picket lines outside the FBI’s offices in the San Juan Federal Building...
...Such a climate of fear is even more apparent among reporters working for the regional press and in areas where Colombia’s internal armed conflict is more intense...
...Former AUC chief commander Salvatore Mancuso once boasted that his organization controlled 35% of Colombia’s congressional representatives...
...However, such a seamless alliance does not exist between the FMLN and all other groups interested in social change...
...The intimidation facing journalists when reporting about the elections and the difficulty in accessing information is a real concern,” says Carlos Cortés, FLIP director...
...Riot police attacked the crowd with rubber bullets and tear gas, but the popular pressure proved decisive and Menjivar was finally announced as the winner in the early morning hours...
...prison for transporting money stolen in 1983 when the group robbed $7.2 million from a Wells Fargo depot in Connecticut...
...A smaller portion of the movements disavows party politics altogether, attacking the FMLN from the left and insisting on a more confrontational approach...
...Camargo is the director of Radio Guatapurí, based in the northeastern region of Cesar, and the message came after he raised questions on the air about why a mayoral election’s results in southern Cesar were suddenly declared invalid...
...We believe there’s a direct link between the threats made against journalists this year and the forthcoming presidential elections,” says Cortés...
...That Schafik might be remembered for helping convert the FMLN into a political party capable of competing with the most entrenched right-wing elite—not to mention its U.S...
...FBI agents had indicated they might arrest Camacho in October 2005, after he spoke out forcefully against the FBI’s killing of Machetero leader Filiberto Ojeda Ríos last September...
...There is no reason to believe that they aren’t supporting candidates during this election period...
...According to the Bogotá-based Freedom of the Press Foundation (FLIP), journalists have faced growing threats in the run-up to Colombia’s May 28 presidential elections...
...See “Politics as Organized Crime…” p. 4] He adds that such relationships between the AUC and certain political candidates make it difficult for journalists to work freely and without fear...
...I was told only to report the facts and figures and not to interview any [paramilitary] soldiers on camera...
...The organizers of the protests charge that the U.S...
...But he adamantly adds, “If I had concrete proof about illegal funds being used for a political campaign, I would publish it despite the negative consequences such action may bring...
...The same happened during the presidential elections in 2002...
...According to one RCN reporter, who wished to remain anonymous, journalists are explicitly instructed not to criticize the demobilization process...
...In October 2005, at least three journalists were threatened while covering the mayoral elections in Cartagena...
...They work in close proximity with whichever illegal group happens to dominate the region and that often means relying on just one source of information...
...The operation’s stated goal is to build four rural health clinics and three wells in the area...
...It’s well known that the AUC is involved in politics, especially along the Caribbean coast,” says Cortés...
...According to U.S...
...Journalists working outside major cities are far more isolated and don’t have the protection of big media outlets,” says Juanita León, a journalist at the weekly current affairs magazine La Semana, based in Bogot...
...While the Popular Social Bloc pledged to help the FMLN win more deputies and mayors, other movement activists have taken a different position, seeking to maintain a greater level of autonomy and distancing themselves from the FMLN—even though most of their members are party militants or supporters...
...backers—is ironic given that Schafik firmly maintained that elections were only one tool for change, and that the organized struggle of mass movements was the key to the success of a revolutionary party like the FMLN...
...Here, journalists come into daily contact with the armed groups and are more likely to face intimidation...
...Despite some internal divisions, the FMLN has managed to maintain its popularity through its steadfast support of progressive social movements, such as the large demonstrations against the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in the days following Schafik’s funeral...
...Another problem facing journalists is ensuring they do not appear to be sympathizing with one particular side of the conflict...
...Camacho is a former leader of the rebel Popular Boricua Army–Macheteros (cane cutters...
...Indeed, the battle against neoliberal economic policies remains strong in El Salvador...
...he served 15 years in a U.S...
...During the last elections, journalists reported to FLIP that the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), the right-wing paramilitary confederation, carefully monitored what was being published about AUC-supported candidates in Urabá, a region in northwest Colombia...
...In 2003, for instance, the FMLN supported a nine-month strike by healthcare workers that ultimately succeeded in blocking the privatization of the country’s public hospitals...
...Agents of the u.s...
...government issued a warrant for his arrest three days later, after he missed his first appointment with a parole officer...
...Last year, 64 journalists received threats, two were killed and six were forced into exile, according to FLIP...
...Four days after El Salvador’s municipal and legislative elections, the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) finally announced on March 16 that it won the race for mayor of San Salvador...
...The source feels that while President Uribe aims for an unprecedented second term in office, such parameters are even more closely monitored...
...After three days of rallying in the Central Plaza, the FMLN and its supporters in the social movements marched to the hotel where the votes were being inspected...
...military is building a base to be used for interventions in neighboring countries...
...Cicerón Flores, deputy director of La Opinion, a newspaper based in Cúcuta, believes that maintaining this neutrality becomes even more important during elections...
...troops will take part in “New Horizons,” but no more than 450 will be in the Dominican Republic at any one time...
...One of the three journalists, Jacqueline Rhenals, political editor at a regional daily, received a blunt text message: “For your personal safety, watch very carefully what you say about the elections...
...Camargo is not the only journalist to receive anonymous threats while covering elections...
...joint military operation in the southwestern Dominican city of Barahona...
...troops arrived in the country in February to launch operation “New Horizons,” a Dominican–U.S...
Vol. 39 • May 2006 • No. 6
