The text of the veto on Article 72 of the Audiovisual Communication Services Act either media law by the president Luis Lacalle Pou entered the Parliament. It shows the arguments that the president took into account to disqualify the additive Open Town Hall to the regulations approved on Thursday morning: prior censorship, incompatibility with the freedom of expression and “reasons of constitutionality and convenience,” among them.
Finally, and as the Colorado Party expected – but not the councilors, who promoted the incorporation in exchange for their general votes in the Senate – the president Lacalle Pou He used his veto power to disable Article 72 of the media law on political “impartiality,” which is widely questioned by all kinds of political sectors and international organizations.
In this sense, on Friday morning he entered the Parliament the official document of the veto, which also sets out the reasons that led to the presidential decision. Among the central points, the document to which he accessed Scope He points out that the rule “is observed for reasons of constitutionality and convenience”, since “it establishes an obligation incompatible with freedom of expression”.
The text prepared by the secretary of the President, Rodrigo Ferres, It also points out that the content of Article 72 “is not adjusted to the Constitution of the Republic nor to the rules of International law in the matter”. In the first case, since the cabildante additive tries to pass over the Magna Carta by establishing impositions on the ways of communicating – in direct relation to the freedom of communication of thought -; while, in the second, it also violates regulations such as the American Convention on Human Rights which, in its article 13, postulates freedom of thought and expression.
Also listed is the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Therefore, the rule also “implies a form of censorship”, According to the President’s statement: “Prohibiting, restricting or requiring content in any area of information is a violation, among others, of Article 29 of the Constitution.” And he also points out that “establishing prior censorship is not within the constitutional margins.”
Finally, the document considers that “the right to work, industry, commerce, profession” is violated because they are “limited without any reason of general interest.”
“For all the above, it is essential in a Rule of Law “to observe the indicated rule and thus safeguard the right and legal guarantee of freedom of expression as a human right that derives from the republican form of government,” he concludes.
For their part, the ministers of Cabildo Abierto, Karina Rando of Public Health (MSP) and Raul Lozano of Housing and Territorial Planning (MVOT), did not accompany the document with their signatures.
The advance of the veto
The decision of Lacalle Pou It became known on Thursday afternoon, just hours after the Chamber of Deputies approved the media law by 50 votes in favor against 41 against, when the Presidency assured that the president had drafted the veto to the article introduced by Cabildo Abierto.
The measure was expected by the Colorado Party, which, since Article 72 was added during the treatment in the Senate, He expressed his opposition to its content and began to pressure the president to use his veto power, so that the media law could be approved despite this, and the general regulations would not be truncated – it should be remembered that the deputies could only vote for or against the law with its modifications in a general manner, so the text was at risk if they opposed the controversial cabildante additive.
For his part, the leader of Cabildo Abierto, Guido Manini Rioswas surprised and regretted the decision of Lacalle Pou which, for the third time during its administration, vetoed an article proposed by that party of the governing coalition.
“We are left alone, just as we are left alone with the debts, with the change in policy on drug addiction, just as we are left alone with public safety measures, we are left alone in many aspects,” said the senator, adding: “It does not bother us to be left alone, because ultimately we are aware that we are acting according to what we feel.”
Source: Ambito
