Leaker Poses Latin America Paradox
Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia Attack Opponents and Media While They Laud Snowden, Critics Say
QUITO, Ecuador—Fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has found support among some South American leaders, who hail him as a whistleblower and defender of free speech.
But the actions of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia toward whistle blowers and political opponents within their own borders paint a starkly different picture, say journalists, opposition members and other government critics.
Reuters
Supporters of Bolivian Senator Pinto attend a vigil outside the Brazilian embassy in La Paz, which has granted asylum to Edward Snowden.
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The government of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, which has offered asylum to Mr. Snowden, regularly attacks critics in the media and broadcasts recordings of private conversations on state television, these people say.
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, which initially granted travel papers to Mr. Snowden, has hit journalists with multimillion-dollar lawsuits.
And President Evo Morales of Bolivia, which said it would consider granting asylum to Mr. Snowden, has its own whistleblower case: A senator who leaked documents alleging government ties to drug traffickers is hiding in Brazil's embassy in La Paz, which granted him asylum.
"It's an irony that these governments are trying appear as though they are paradises for free speech while local journalists are being muscled, sued for defamation, having their outlets shut down or being restricted under new communications laws," said Carlos Lauría of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a global watchdog group that monitors press rights.
The South American leaders have cracked down against journalists in their own countries at the same time they champion Mr. Snowden's cause.
After the case of the American former National Security Agency contractor emerged in June, Ecuador's Congress passed a law that bans reporters from pursuing stories that a government regulator judges can damage a person's reputation.
Juan Carlos Calderón, an Ecuadorean editor, said the government campaigns have made it "the worst moment to be an investigative journalist here." His magazine, Vanguardia, closed and fired its staff last week, citing the Ecuadorean law restricting press freedoms. The magazine also faced a challenging economic environment.
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Ecuador's President Correa, speaking about fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Last year, a court ordered Mr. Calderón and a co-defendant, Christian Zurita, to pay $2 million to Mr. Correa after they wrote a book detailing lucrative construction contracts they said were illegally obtained by the president's brother Fabricio. During the trial, the president testified he had been defamed. Mr. Correa later pardoned the two men. Fabricio Correa denied any illegality to the contracts.
"Correa has made the press his enemy and while it has taken him years to defeat that enemy, he has nearly won," Mr. Zurita said.
Mr. Correa didn't respond to a request for an interview. Romel Jurado, a spokesman for the president's communications ministry, said press controls were vital to prevent political subversion by media outlets aligned with Mr. Correa's enemies. "The media is concentrated in the hands of a few," Mr. Jurado said. "There has been illegitimate meddling in the political system to the point the media believed they could put into place and overthrow governments."
Xavier Bonilla, a political cartoonist who goes by the pen name Bonil, drew a cartoon early this year that lampooned the country's vice president, Jorge Glas, over allegations Mr. Glas had plagiarized part of his university thesis. Mr. Glas denied that allegation.
The government demanded a retraction and sent a proposed apology to the newspaper. The newspaper refused to apologize, instead publishing the government's text for readers to see.
Mr. Bonilla is pleased the paper stood up for him. But he said, "I don't feel so free anymore. Now I'm thinking twice when I draw."
In Venezuela, government critics say they have suffered consequences. Until recently, La Hojilla, a top opinion show on state television, broadcast tapes of private conversations of government opponents, using the tapes, which their targets say were often edited to their disadvantage, to threaten and embarrass them.
"I felt like I was naked in public," said Ignacio Arcaya, a former ambassador to Washington under the late Mr. Chávez, after a telephone call he had placed to a leading human-rights lawyer was played on La Hojilla in April. "This government has been a particularly terrible violator of the rights of Venezuelans."
The Venezuelan government removed La Hojilla from the air in late May after a tape of its host complaining about alleged corruption and political plotting by high government officials was broadcast shortly after the April election that Mr. Maduro won.
Then in late June, officials broadcast a recording of former opposition presidential candidate and congresswoman María Corina Machado speaking to an academic. Officials accused her of discussing plans for a coup.
"I have no idea how they could have recorded us, it was a closed room in a private home," said Ms. Machado, adding that the recording was heavily edited and misrepresented her comments. "I think it's part of a pattern without a doubt, the government wants to create political terror on all levels."
Venezuelan government officials didn't return calls for comment. In recent weeks, Mr. Maduro and other officials have said such recordings are part of a new initiative to combat corruption. Ms. Machado said she has committed no wrongdoing.
Mr. Morales faces his own whistleblower case.
Roger Pinto, a leading Bolivian opposition senator, has been living in the Brazilian Embassy in La Paz for more than a year, since he sought—and was later granted—asylum on the grounds that he faced trumped-up lawsuits by government prosecutors, and death threats. The problems began after Mr. Pinto denounced alleged links between drug traffickers and senior Morales administration officials.
Mr. Morales, who couldn't be reached for comment, and other officials have denied Mr. Pinto's allegations.
Mr. Morales has denied Mr. Pinto a "safe conduct" pass to leave Bolivia for Brazil. As a result, Mr. Pinto has been living in an office-cum dorm room in Brazil's embassy. He is restricted from giving interviews, and may only meet with his daughter, his lawyer and a person who takes care of errands.
This week, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said that the Snowden and Pinto two cases were different and that Bolivia hasn't allowed Mr. Pinto to leave the country because that would violate domestic and international regulations.
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