CARACAS – The future of freedom of speech in Latin America is being subjected to the “harassment” of policies designed “to put limits on it that are being repeated around the region,” Gonzalo Marroquin, vice president of the Inter-American Press Association, said at the conclusion of a forum held in Caracas.

Marroquin, editor-in-chief of the Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre, said that Venezuela is the origin of the harassment being copied around the region and that it seeks to extend “the restriction of opportunities for freedom of speech” to other countries, among which he mentioned Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The Emergency Forum on Freedom of Speech, organized by IAPA and the Venezuelan Press Bloc, was held Friday in Caracas with the participation of the ex-presidents of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, and of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, along with representatives of Latin American media.

As a response to the “real threats” against the media on the continent, Enrique Santos, IAPA president and editor-in-chief of the Colombian daily El Tiempo, called on them “not to cave in, to be more rigorous, more clear-thinking and critical.”

Santos regretted that members of the Venezuelan government and of the official media of this country never answered the invitations from the organizers of the forum “to a debate,” despite “reiterated invitations.”

The forum, which began in the morning discussing the situation of the press in Latin America, concentrated during the afternoon on the case of Venezuela, with the participation of heads of this country’s private media.

Alberto Federico Ravell, director of Venezuelan opposition channel Globovision, who has been threatened on various occasions by the government of President Hugo Chavez, criticized the “arbitrariness” of the legal actions against his channel, while slamming the official media’s “kneeling before power.”

“Laws are being passed here that are all too clear,” Ravell said with reference to administrative sanctions supposedly made to measure for media that don’t support the government.

“In Venezuela there’s a big risk attached to saying whatever you want: you can lose a concession, your freedom or even your personal safety,” he said.

He also spoke of the escalation against the media in the region, protected by legality.

“The gag rule is on the rise in Latin America,” he said.

For his part, Peruvian ex-President Alejandro Toledo said that closing down the media “is only done by real authoritarian governments,” a reference to Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) and more than 30 radio stations being forced off the air by the Hugo Chavez government.

In their speeches, participants also answered accusations by Venezuelan Communications Minister Blanca Eeckout, who said Saturday that the IAPA was a “mafia” and that the forum held in Caracas was part of the “empire’s” campaign against progressive governments in Latin America.

“We haven’t come to destabilize any government, that’s ridiculous, we’re not a political party,” Marroquin said in a statement to Efe during the meeting.

The IAPA vice president recalled that when “the right to information is limited, a fundamental right is being limited, not just for journalists but for the people.”

While the forum was underway at a big Caracas hotel, a small group of government supporters marched downtown to reject IAPA’s presence and protest what they called “media terrorism.”

IAPA will present the conclusions of its meeting in Caracas at the 65th general assembly of the organization, to be held in Buenos Aires between Nov. 6-10.