[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3666-3667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN ECUADOR

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to speak briefly, as I have several 
times over the past year, about the government of Ecuador's President 
Rafael Correa, which continues its aggressive clamp down on press 
freedom. Most recently, political cartoonist Xavier Bonilla was 
reprimanded for a cartoon he drew, and the newspaper he works for, El 
Universo, was fined for publishing it. El Universo, one of Ecuador's 
most respected dailies, has been the target of one of the dozens of 
harassing lawsuits filed by President Correa.
  The cartoon by Mr. Bonilla, who goes by the pen name Bonil, depicts a 
police raid at the home of an investigative journalist, Fernando 
Villavicencio, who claimed to have documented evidence of corruption in 
the government. It shows the police knocking down the door to Mr. 
Villavicencio's house and parading out with computers and filing 
cabinets.
  A government-established media oversight agency, Superintendency of 
Information and Communication, SUPERCOM, used Ecuador's vague 
communications law to sanction both Mr. Bonilla and El Universo for 
publishing an ``institutional position'' over the guilt or innocence of 
people involved in investigations. It subsequently ordered a major 
investigation, required a ``correction'' to the cartoon, and fined the 
newspaper. In doing so, the Correa administration sent a clear message 
to journalists that criticism of government misconduct will not be 
tolerated.
  I have spoken several times about President Correa's attacks on press 
freedom and I will continue doing so as long as these restrictive laws 
are enforced and as long as journalists are threatened for their work. 
Most recently I recognized the efforts of Janet Hinostroza, an 
Ecuadoran investigative journalist who was honored by the Committee to 
Protect Journalists, CPJ, for her commitment to fighting for a free 
press. Ms. Hinostroza is continually threatened for her work exposing 
government corruption. Unfortunately, the harassment she and Mr. 
Bonilla face illustrates a norm, not an anomaly, when it comes to 
President

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Correa's attempts to intimidate and silence his critics.
  The absurdity of censoring a cartoonist aside, this latest attack 
further erodes what remains of an independent press in Ecuador. It 
explains why Human Rights Watch and CPJ continually rank Ecuador among 
the world's worst for press freedom. It is shameful, it is an 
embarrassment for the hemisphere, and the people of Ecuador deserve 
better.

                          ____________________