Several national and international press freedom groups have criticized alleged spying on Costa Rican journalists by the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), including the Inter American Press Association and Reporters Without Borders. Claudio Paolillo, chairman of the press freedom group’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information condemned the apparent snooping and said it threw into question Costa Rica’s respect for press freedom.
Long celebrated as Latin America’s leader in freedom of expression, Costa Rica found itself mired in a wiretapping scandal Monday that shocked the small country. The newspaper Diario Extra accused the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) and the Prosecutor’s Office of tapping the telephones of its reporters, telephone operator and Iary Gómez, general director of the media company, in an alleged attempt to discover the names of confidential sources inside the judicial branch.
The U.S. intelligence service will continue to spy on foreign governments, U. S. President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Saturday, although he assured Chancellor Angela Merkel that he would not let intrusive surveillance harm their relationship.
"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval," said U.S. District Court judge Richard Leon.