Inter American Press Association
Inter American Press Association (IAPA) is a coalition of newspaper owners and editors – a trade association of newspaper owners. The purpose of the organization is to influence policy on press ownership, aka, "press freedom", and to establish a common front if there is a perceived threat to the group's interests. It is a curious organization, because its mission is not clearly spelled out; the IAPA website doesn't even have an "About Us" section.
IAPA has a long history of association with the CIA and its efforts to undermine countries inimical to US interests. In all likelihood, IAPA was set up by the CIA and its affiliated organs.
Contents
Murky Chapters
IAPA becomes a useful tool when a Latin American country undergoes democratic or revolutionary change. Fred Landis describes how newspapers in the target country become propaganda instruments manipulated by the CIA and its affiliated organs:
- IAPA stands ready, with all its hundreds of cooperating member newspapers, to scream "Marxist Threat to Free Press" if any attempt is made by the target government to restrict the flow of hostile propaganda. In 1969 the CIA had five agents working as media executives at El Mercurio, all of whom in subsequent years were elevated to the Board of Directors of IAPA. The owner of El Mercurio was made head of the Freedom of the Press committee, and later President. IAPA bylaws permitted only working owners to be members, so the bylaws were changed to accommodate him. Then many of the CIA operatives at Copley News Service were made members of the Board of Directors of IAPA. Immediately before the campaign to oust socialist Prime Minister Michael Manley, Jamaica Daily Gleaner publisher Oliver Clarke was added to the Executive Committee; he has now been promoted to Treasurer. At the last annual convention in San Diego, IAPA elevated Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, Jr., to its Board of Directors. At that time he was not an editor or publisher of La Prensa, but the CIA needed him because he had the same name as his martyred father. After his elevation he was belatedly made Assistant Director of La Prensa, and when he was recently added to the IAPA Executive Committee, La Prensa began carrying the IAPA membership credential in its masthead. At the last IAPA meeting in Rio de Janeiro in October, speeches, including those by Vice-President Bush, were dominated by alarmist references to the situation of the press in Nicaragua.
- Obviously the owner of a conservative newspaper in Latin America does not need CIA money to be against a socialist government. The assistance provided by the CIA is primarily technical, not financial. Without CIA help, the local newspaper's opposition would be openly stated on the editorial page in language reflecting the ideology of the local conservative elite. That would be ideological warfare, not psychological warfare. But the CIA is not concerned, in these operations, with local ideology; it is concentrating on the use of its bag of technological dirty tricks. One of these tricks is disinformation.[1]
Principals
Officers
| Officers 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scott C. Schurz - Honorary President, Herald-Times Bloomington, Indiana | Rafael Molina - President, Día, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | Earl Maucker - 1st Vice-President, Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Enrique Santos Calderón - 2nd Vice-President, El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia | William E. Casey - Treasurer, Down Jones & Co., New York, New York | Juan Luis Correa - Secretary, La Prensa, Panamá, Panama Republic |
| Julio E. Muñoz - Executive Director | ||
| Source accessed 15 July 2007 | ||
Executive Committee
| Executive Committee 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Robert U. Brown - Hon. Chairman; Editor & Publisher, New York | Alejandro J. Aguirre - Chairman Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida | Diana Daniels - Vice Chairman The Washington Post Company, Washington, D.C |
| Members | ||
| Fabricio Altamirano El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador | Bruce Brugmann San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California | Jorge Canahuati Larach La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras |
| Robert J. Caldwell The San Diego Union-Tribune, California | Milton Coleman The Washington Post, Washington, DC | Juan Luis Correa La Prensa, Panama City |
| Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz El Universal, Mexico, DF | Felipe T. Edwards La Segunda, Santiago, Chile | Luis A. Ferre El Nuevo Día, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Tom Fiedler The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida | Armando Gonzalez Rodicio La Nación, San Jose, Costa Rica | Liza Gross The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida |
| Jose Santiago Healy Diario San Diego, Chula Vista, California | Andre Jungblut Gazeta do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil | Jaime Mantilla Diario Hoy, Quito, Ecuador |
| Gonzalo Marroquin Prensa Libre, Guatemala | Earl Maucker Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | Silvia Miro Quesada El Comercio, Lima, Peru |
| Bartolome Mitre La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Gustavo Mohme La República, Lima, Peru | Tony Pederson Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas |
| Nelida Rajneri Río Negro, General Roca, Argentina | Edward Seaton Seaton Newspapers, Manhattan, Kansas | Jayme Sirotsky RBS, Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| Scott C. Schurz Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana | Paul K. Scripps E.W. Scripps Company, San Diego, California | |
| Source accessed 15 July 2007 | ||
Advisory Council
| Officers 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alejandro J. Aguirre - Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida | Horacio Aguirre - Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida | Danilo Arbilla - Búsqueda, Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Robert U. Brown - Editor & Publisher, New York | Luis Gabriel Cano - El Espectador, Bogotá, Colombia | Oliver F. Clarke - The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica |
| Robert J. Cox - The Post & Courier, Charleston, S.C. | Diana Daniels - The Washington Post Company, Washington DC | Hector Davalos - Novedades de Acapulco, Mexico |
| Agustin E. Edwards - El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile | Jorge E. Fascetto - El Día, La Plata, Argentina | Jack Fuller - Tribune Publishing Co., (retired) Chicago, Illinois |
| Maximo Gainza - La Prensa, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Andres Garcia - Novedades de Quintana Roo, México | Andres Garcia Lavin - Novedades de Mérida, Yucatán, México |
| Edward H. Harte - Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Texas | Jorge A. Hernandez R. - El Colombiano, Medellín, Colombia | Argentina S. Hills - Life Member, Miami, Florida |
| Alejandro Junco de la Vega - El Norte, Monterrey, México | Raul E. Kraiselburd - El Día, La Plata, Argentina | David Lawrence, Jr. - The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida |
| Ignacio E. Lozano, Jr. - La Opinión, Los Angeles, California | Earl Maucker - Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida | A. Roy Megarry – The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada |
| Júlio C. F. de Mesquita - O Estado de S. Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil | Alejandro Miró Quesada G. - El Comercio, Lima, Peru | Alejo Miró Quesada. - El Comercio, Lima, Peru |
| Rafael Molina - El Día, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | Tony Pederson - Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas | Luis Fernando Santos - El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Edward Seaton - Seaton Newspapers, Manhattan, Kansas | Roberto Suarez - El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida | William P. Williamson, Jr. - Life Member, Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Source accessed 15 July 2007 | ||
Board of Directors
| Board of Directors 2004 - 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cristina Aby-Azar The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York | David Adams St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida | Gilberto Arias Editora Panamá-América, Panamá, Panama City |
| Maria Ofelia Cerro Moral La Industria de Trujillo y Chiclayo, Peru | Alejandro Dominguez La Nación, Asuncion,Paraguay | Elizabeth Dulanto de Miro Quesada Cosas, Lima, Peru |
| Felipe Edwards La Segunda, Santiago, Chile | Martin Fascetto Diario Popular, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Jose Santiago Healy Diario San Diego, Chula Vista, California |
| Saturnino Herrero Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Juan Pablo Illanes El Mercurio, Valparaiso, Chile | David Meissner Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Wisconsin |
| Silvia Miro Quesada El Comercio, Lima, Peru | Bartolome Mitre La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina | Robert Rivard San Antonio-Express News, San Antonio, Texas |
| Raul Rivero CubaPress La Habana, Cuba | Scott C. Schurz Herald-Times Bloomington, Indiana | Jayme Sirotsky RBS, Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| Clemente Vivanco Diario La Hora, Quito, Ecuador | Aldo Zuccolillo ABC Color, Asunción, Paraguay | |
| Board of Directors 2005 - 2008 | ||
| H. Brandt Ayers The Anniston Star, Anniston, Alabama | George Benge Gannett Corporation, Inc., McLean, Virginia | Bruce Brugmann San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco, California |
| Robert J. Caldwell The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California | Milton Coleman The Washington Post, Washington, DC | Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz El Universal,Mexico, DF |
| Agustin J. Edwards El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile | Luis F. Etchevehere El Diario, Paraná, Argentina | Luis Alberto Ferre Rangel El Nuevo Día, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Gerardo Garcia Gamboa Novedades de Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico | Mario Alberto Gusmão Jornal NH, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil | Juan Fernando Healy Periódicos Healy, Hermosillo, Mexico |
| Miguel Henrique Otero El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela | André Luis Jungblut Gazeta do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil | Jaime Mantilla Anderson Diario Hoy, Quito, Ecuador |
| Gonzalo Marroquin Prensa Libre, Guatemala, Guatemala | William O. Nutting Wheeling News Register, Wheeling, West Virginia | Louis (Skip) Perez The Ledger, Lakeland, Florida |
| Nelida Rajneri Diario Río Negro, General Roca, Argentina | Pedro Zambrano Lapentti El Diario - Manabita, Portoviejo, Ecuador | |
| Board of Directors 2006 - 2009 | ||
| Eduardo Aleman Diario Carabobeño, Valencia, Venezuela | Larry Allison The Press Telegram, Long Beach, California | Fabricio Altamirano El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador |
| Jorge Canahuati La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Humberto Castello El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida | Armando Castilla G. Vanguardia, Saltillo, Mexico |
| Jaime Chamorro La Prensa, Managua, Nicaragua | Jeff Cohen Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas | Jose Roberto Dutriz La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador |
| Tom Fiedler The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida | Mark Fitzgerald Editor & Publisher, New York, New York | Alfredo Jimenez de Sandi Imagen, Mexico, DF |
| Gonzalo Leaño Ocho Columnas, Guadalajara, Mexico | Guadalupe Mantilla Diario El Comercio, Quito, Ecuador | Andres Mata Osorio El Universal, Caracas, Venezuela |
| Gustavo Adolfo Mohme S. La República, Lima, Peru | Francisco Montes El Diario de Cuyo, Cuyo, Argentina | Carlos Salinas El Diario de Coahuila, Saltillo, Mexico |
| Paul K. Scripps E.W. Scripps Company, San Diego, California | Gilberto Urdaneta El Regional de Zulia, Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela | |
| Source accessed 15 July 2007 | ||
Contact
- Web: www.sipiapa.org
References
- ^Fred Landis, CIA Media Operations in Chile, Jamaica, and Nicaragua, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 16, March 1982, pp. 34 -- 35.
