In a letter sent to President Joe Biden by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) and International IDEA, they requested that he include the discussion on freedom of the press and expression at the Summit for Democracy.
In the letter signed by Jorge Canahuati, president of the IAPA, and Kevin Casas Zamora, secretary general of International IDEA, they expressed their support for the Summit for Democracy that will be held virtually between December 9 and 10.
They pointed out that in many countries freedom of the press and expression are under siege by “anti-democratic regimes and totalitarian forces.”
Canahuati and Casas Zamora highlighted that freedom of expression and of the press are essential values of democracy, but have been threatened in recent years in many countries in the region.
Government, civil society and private sector leaders from 110 nations will participate in the Summit. Biden’s goal is to set an agenda for democratic renewal and examine the biggest threats democracies face.
The United States invited numerous allied governments that it considers democracies, such as Spain, France, Israel, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Among the excluded countries are Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, who obtained the lowest scores in the Chapultepec Index 2021, which measures the performance of freedom of expression and of the press in the contexts legal, judicial and violence in each country.
