Dear Editor,
It is no surprise to me that our democratically elected government has not responded to what was quite a crude ultimatum that was issued by Special Rapporteur, Ignacio Alvarez in his letter of June 13, 2007 addressed to the government.
Alvarez must be made to understand that he is in no position to be making demands on any government and to be issuing ultimatums. This government will listen to the demands from the electorate who voted them into office and certainly not from any functionary. Do Ignacio Alvarez and his Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) vote in our national elections? When they do, perhaps the government will be duty-bound to recognize their appeals and perhaps even their demands of ultimatums.
David de Caires and Alvarez must say firmly and unambiguously what it is that they are making all the fuss about. Is it a denial of press freedom or indirect restriction on freedom of expression, maybe meaningful dialogue can be achieved, or just stop wasting time on this matter in which a sovereign government has acted in the best interests of the nation.
Yours faithfully,
David DeGroot
Editor’s note
It seems Mr de Groot has made no attempt to acquaint himself with the issues involved which we have set out clearly on several occasions.
