The blow dealt by Lasso to the legacy of Correa: the new president of Ecuador sent a bill to repeal the “gag law” of communication

On the second day of his mandate, the President of Ecuador, Gullermo Lasso, sent to the National Assembly the draft Organic Law of Free Expression and Communication. The regulations sent by Lasso propose repeal the Organic Law of Communication (LOC) published by the government of Rafael Correa in 2013 and amended by the government of Lenín Moreno.

The new law will repeal all articles of the COL, except those that encourage domestic production of advertising, regulation of state propaganda, and the radio spectrum regime.

It’s a Lasso’s new blow to the legacy of Rafael Correa, who used the LOC to punish media and journalists opposed to his government. For this reason, the LOC has been called the “gag law”. According to Fundamedios, a civil society organization that guarantees freedom of speech and of the press, there has been 510 sanctions against the media and journalists under the provisions of the communication law in force.

The new law embraces international principles

According to the press service of the Presidency of Ecuador, the draft sent by Lasso was drafted in accordance with the international principles of freedom of expression such as the Chapultepec Declaration and the Declaration of Human Rights of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

In February 2019, Lenín Moreno signed the Chapultepec Declaration in front of a delegation from the Inter-American Press Association. It is a decalogue of principles which aims to ratify democracy, freedom of speech and of the press on the American continent. This declaration has been signed by more than seventy heads of state.

The new law would guarantee, according to the presidency, freedom of expression, of communication and of the press, the conscience clause and the reservation of sources and professional secrets. In addition, it seeks to protect the inviolability of personal communications and repeals the crime of slander and violation of acts injurious to honor.

Votes for the repeal of the LOC

The law-making process in Ecuador establishes that the bill will be sent to the Legislative Administration Council (CAL), which is the highest management body for parliamentary debate. At CAL, members must qualify the project and send it to one of the 13 standing committees of the National Assembly.

Within the Commission, legislators discuss the draft and send it to the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. In plenary, the bill is debated twice and a vote is taken for its approval. If the bill is approved, it reverts to the executive, where the president can veto partially or fully.

In the case of the law sent by Lasso, 70 votes are needed in plenary to pass. However, Lasso only has 13 lawmakers belonging to his CREO movement. This This forces him to make agreements with the other benches of Congress.

In the current Assembly, the legislative group with the largest number of members of Congress is that linked to Rafael Correa. The UNES bench has 49 assembly members.

The reactions

On social networks, journalists, lawyers and activists congratulated Lasso for sending the bill to repeal the “gag law”. However, there are those who demand that the project be discussed with social organizations.

In an interview with a local radio station, César Ricaurte, executive director of Fundamedios, said he “values ​​the first message in favor of freedom of expression”, but believes that the bill generates two new laws: the one on freedom of expression and one on freedom of expression, advertising and distribution of radio space.

Regarding his bill, President Lasso hopes that the National Assembly will deal with it urgently “so that we can once again live in complete freedom in Ecuador”.

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