Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes on Sept. 18 signed a decree (Decree 4064/15) implementing the law on access to public information.
Cartes called it “a historic moment in our country” and said his administration would work to end injustice and misuse of public money, according to a posting on a government website (in Spanish). Transparency will deliver the keys of power to the people, he said, promising to publish information on government payrolls and budgets.
The law guarantees the constitutional right of citizens to have access, without discrimination of any kind, to public information from the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and from independent agencies and universities. It requires public institutions to respond to inquiries submitted by email or letter; to deliver the information in less than 15 days and to have offices open to the public. Training of officials about the law is ordered.
Paraguay passed its access law in September 2014. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Paraguayan efforts to learn from other Latin American countries about implementing access laws were discussed in posting on the Open Government Partnership blog by Ruth Gonzalez Llamas.
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