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.

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

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<th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod Officers 2007 <td width="33% Scott C. Schurz - Honorary President
Herald-Times Bloomington, Indiana <td width="33% Rafael Molina - President
Día, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic <td width="33% 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    <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod" align="left Source accessed 15 July 2007

Executive Committee

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<th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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 <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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 <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod" align="left Source accessed 15 July 2007

Advisory Council

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<th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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     <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod" align="left Source accessed 15 July 2007

Board of Directors

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<th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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   <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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   <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod 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   <th colspan="3" bgcolor="palegoldenrod" align="left Source accessed 15 July 2007

Contact

Web: www.sipiapa.org

References

1. ^Fred Landis, CIA Media Operations in Chile, Jamaica, and Nicaragua, Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 16, March 1982, pp. 32 -- 43.