Narco News Contributor Attacked in Puerto Rico

August 22, 2005
Please Distribute Widely

Dear Colleague,

In the last few weeks, Dr. Rafael Andrés Escribano has been the
object of virulent attacks from hack "journalist" Rolando Torres of
Christian broadcaster Radio Redentor, who accuses Escribano of
"promoting drug use among the youth" of Puerto Rico. Escribano, a
dear friend of this newspaper and known historian of the role
cannabis has played in the history of his country, committed the
"sin" of acknowledging, in a university forum, responding to a
question that a panelist had asked, that he is a consumer of that herb.

The most worrying part of the case is that, according to all
indications, the authorities at the Inter-American University of
Puerto Rico, Arecibo campus, have unleashed a sort of hidden
repression against Dr. Escribano, who lectures there, leaving his
contractual situation in limbo. This solution, still unresolved,
undoubtedly affects this practicing linguist's academic career, and
is a clear example of the harmful effects of the so-called "war on
drugs," where an intellectual is not just denied the ability to
freely express his opinion but is also denied the right his right to
work at all... But let's let Rafael Andrés Escribano be the one to
tell us the story, with his "Hermetically Open Letter to the
President of the Inter-American University," first published on his
website -Logofilo's Rarae Novae (http://www.logofilo.com) - and now
translated on Narco News:

http://www.narconews.com/docs/escibano_letter.html

Stay with us, kind readers... we're not going to leave Dr. Rafael
Andrés Escribano alone in his battle - which of course he did not
seek - with false prophets disguised as "journalists."

From somewhere in a country called América,

Luis A. Gómez
Acting Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com
Email: luisgomez [at] narconews.com

Narco News is supported by:

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
P.O. Box 241
Natick, MA 01760
http://www.authenticjournalism.org