The Editor, Sir:

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has sent the following letter to the Hon Edwin W. Carrington, secretary general, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in George-town, Guyana:

Dear Sir:

We understand that there will be an informal meeting of Caricom heads in Port-of Spain in late April. We respectfully request that the withdrawal of advertisements from Stabroek News by the Government of Guyana be put on the agenda for discussion.

In November 2006, the Government of Guyana withdrew advertisements from Stabroek News by some 29 government ministries, agencies and state-owned corporations. Since then, the boycott has been extended to ads placed by the auditor general, the police force and the defence force.

In 2007, a regional media team, which included Messrs Harold Hoyte of Barbados and Guyanese journalist Rickey Singh had proposed to Mr Jagdeo that a mechanism be devised for allocating ads. This suggestion was also reinforced by the Office of the Special Rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission Human Rights. The president has ignored the suggestion to date.

The action of the Government of Guyana in withdrawing advertisements from Stabroek News constitutes a breach of Principles 2, 6 & 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec which provide:

2. Every person has the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely. No one may restrict or deny these rights.

6. The media and journalists should neither be discriminated against nor favoured because of what they write or say.

7. Tariff and exchange policies, licences for the importation of paper or news-gathering equipment, the assigning of radio and television frequencies and the granting or withdrawal of government advertising may not be used to reward or punish the media or individual journalists. Guyana endorsed the Declaration on the 24th day of May, 2002.

The withdrawal of advertisements by the Government of Guyana has been condemned by our organisation, the Commonwealth Press Union, and the International Press Institute.

Editorials and press releases have also been published in the print and electronic media throughout the region criticising the withdrawal of ads and calling for a fair system of allocation of government advertisements.

More needs to be done, however, as the government of Guyana continues to use taxpayers monies (including that of the employees of Stabroek News) to punish the Stabroek News for its independence and critical editorial coverage of the government. Our most cordial greetings,

I am, etc.,

GONZALO MARROQUIN

Chairman,Committee on the

Freedom of the Press and Information

Inter-American Press Association (IAPA)