IAPA President Gustavo Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, condemned “the lack of independence of the legislators who, in order to ingratiate themselves with the Premier, approved the suspension of placing official advertising and any other commercial activity with the islands sole newspaper, directly impacting freedom of expression and the people’s right to have access to information of public interest.”

The editorial published on June 3 suggested that the government acted rather slowly in responding to accusations of alleged bribery and corruption within FIFA (International Federation of Football Associations), and specifically against Jeffrey Webb, head of the local association and president of the Football Confederation which comprises North America, Central America and the Caribbean, who was arrested on May 27. The newspaper said that corruption was so prevalent in the Cayman Islands that it called it “an insidious common crime”.

The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, referred to “the abuse of privilege and the manipulation of the legislature over an editorial denouncing corruption”. He declared that “the placement of official advertising should not be used to award or punish media or journalists,” as established by Principle 7 of the Declaration of Chapultepec.

Premier Alden McLaughlin accused the newspaper of having carried out “a full frontal assault on the Cayman Islands and its people,” and supported the economic sanctions against it.

Cayman Compass co-publishers David R. Legge and his wife Vikki were placed under police protection, and by the weekend had temporarily left the country, according to local media.

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Speaking at a press conference on 13 May, the Premier spoke of a proposed business fee for media organizations, and an additional fee for publications printed outside the country for local distribution, according to Cayman Net News. The fees may be included in the next budget.

The Premier was reported as saying that non-payment of the fee, which he said could be as high as $100,000, would result in a fine, or up to three months in prison, Cayman Net News reported.

“For every day they don’t pay, it will be a fine,” he was quoted as saying.

According to the BBC Caribbean Service, the Premier “has taken aim at” two local news organizations, which the BBC identified as the online Cayman News Service and Cayman Net News – printed in Miami.

Cayman Islands media and the BBC reported that Cayman Net News had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the Premier’s travel while in office. Mr. Bush said that the request “served no real information value, forced the civil service to spend too much time gathering, and was expensive to implement,” the news outlets reported.

Cayman Net News quoted the Premier as saying that the Freedom of Information law “cost the country a lot” and that there was no way to vet the identity of the individual making the request.

According to Cayman Net News, the Premier also accused the publication of publishing inaccurate information which was “wrong for the country.”

He said: “If they are going to slander this country (. . .) then they are going to pay, and I don’t mean ten dollars,” Cayman Net News reported.

IPI Director David Dadge said: “In any democracy, journalists have a fundamental right to access information, and to scrutinize the holders of elected office. Set against the backdrop of Mr. Bush’s reported comments about journalists’ efforts to access information about his travel, the possible imposition on news outlets of sizeable business ‘fees’ and the threat of prosecution for failure to pay them appear designed to pressure journalists.”

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