At dawn on May 11 strangers fired from a car at Cablevisión Headquarters in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The bullets hit the Company´s open 24 hours call center—there were fortunately no casualties.
Cablevisión Headquarters Attacked
Fundación LED (Libertad de Expresión + Democracia) has condemned the attack against the headquarters of Cablevisión (the cable operator) in the city of Buenos Aires.
The increasing wave of different types of attacks on the media in our country is distressing, having been repeatedly reported by our organization. The Cablevisión Board informed that this is the third time that something of the like has happened during the last months.
Arson attacks against radio stations in Formosa and Santa Fe during April this year, Molotov bombs thrown at the newspaper distribution company of La Nación in that province in March, and the attack against Cablevisión offices are all part of a growing atmosphere of insecurity for those who are active journalists in our country. All these events have been timely reported by Fundación LED and shall be included in our next report on restrictions on freedom of expression in our country.
Indeed, the OAS Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression is crystal clear: “… the material destruction of communications media violate(s) the fundamental rights of individuals and strongly restrict(s) freedom of expression. It is the duty of the State to prevent and investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators and to ensure that victims receive due compensation.”
Reiterated occurrences of this sort, which are becoming more and more frequent, demand immediate action by the State to stop the chain of attacks and clear up past aggressions, in compliance with the International Treaties that have been signed.
We Argentines must become aware of the consequences that the increase in violence against the press will have in our everyday life. The attacks are not just isolated events affecting direct victims only. The attacks are actions seriously impairing the rights of each and every citizen. Violent crime does not just seek to intimidate the press but rather to fragment society with disinformation so as to be able to control it with fear.
Cablevisión shall keep on working daily to defend and spread core democratic values persuaded, as it is, that they are the only guarantee of progress in society.