MIAMI, USA — The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has condemned legislators in the Cayman Islands who approved the withdrawal of official advertising from the Cayman Compass newspaper, in retaliation for an editorial that criticised the premier and local officials for allegedly engaging in acts of corruption, among them one related to the FIFA soccer scandal.

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 daily 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 among football officials 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 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 the Declaration of Chapultepec, in its Principle 7.

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.