Source: New York Times Contact: Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Pubdate: 27 Mar 1998 JAILING JOURNALISTS IN LATIN AMERICA Reporters in Latin America are still dodging bullets. Of 26 journalists killed worldwide in 1997, 10 were in Latin America, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. But an arrest warrant is a more common danger. Government officials are bringing criminal charges against journalists who report on official crime and corruption, giving intimidation a legal veneer. In Peru, one current target is an investigative reporter, Jose Arrieta. While at Si magazine, Mr. Arrieta reported that a death squad run by the Government's intelligence services committed a notorious massacre in 1992. One of his sources even led him to the bodies. Mr. Arrieta moved to a television station, Channel 2, where he broke more stories about murder, torture and illegal wiretapping by the intelligence services. Last year the Government of Alberto Fujimori reovoked the Peruvian citizenship of Channel 2's owner, Israel-born Baruch Ivcher, and put the station in the hands of its own supporters. An arrest warrant was issued accusing Mr. Arrieta of falsifying his stories. A courageous judge knocked it down. But. Mr. Arrieia , certain the Government will try again, is in Miami applying for political asylum. The most widespread form of intimidation is to charge reporters with defamation, a criminal offense in most of Latin America. Last year two New York Times reporters were charged by the Mexican Government, which frequently uses this law against reporters, but the charges were dropped. Panama has turned the law against Gustavo Gorriti, an editor at the newspaper La Prensa. Irritated by his reporting on drug corruption, the Government tried to deport Mr. Gorriti, who had moved to Panama after being kidnapped by the security services in his native Peru. When that failed, Panama revived what appears to be a spurious case against him for defaming a government official and falsifying evidence. He faces a six-year sentence if convicted. The spread of drug corruption has made Latin governments particularly eager to curb investigative reporting, but pressures for a free press are also growing. One source is public opinion, as the media are respected and trusted in many countries. The White House has spoken out strongly. So has the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. Its rulings have repeatedly defended free speech, and recently it established a special rapporteur to investigate violations of press freedom. Overturning restrictive laws, however, is not enough. Governments are able to use the courts against reporters because judicial independence is a fiction in many countries. Independent journalism is only possible with an independent judiciary.