11 work had to be conducted in Brazil with the participation of investigators and parliamentarians from that country. Mr. Canese would have provided crucial collaboration with the work of the Congress’s Bicameral Investigation Committee on Itaipú, if he had been allowed to leave the country freely when the work of the Committee required this. In this case, the work of the Committee did not make a decisive contribution to eradicating impunity; consequently, it did not produce the positive results for the country that could have been expected. b) Testimony of Miguel Hermenegildo López, journalist The witness is Paraguayan and an active journalist. Currently, he works as an editor with the Paraguayan newspaper “Última Hora.” He is also Secretary General of the Journalists’ Trade Union of Paraguay. Since 1979, this is the “only organization” that unites media professionals in Paraguay. In addition, he teaches at the National University of Asunción. The 1993 presidential elections in Paraguay took place in a context of high expectations and with significant popular participation. These elections produced the first change from a military to a civilian head of State; consequently, they were considered the “true beginning of the democratic transition.” There was great enthusiasm among the population to participate and elect the most effective head of State possible for the country’s new socio-political context. This enthusiasm was also visible in the conduct of political parties and candidates. Numerous pre-existing and new groups took part in the electoral process as an expression of the exercise of democracy and of rupture with more than three decades of dictatorship. The alleged victim was well known prior to 1993, because of his continuing denunciation of corrupt acts at the Itaipú bi-national hydroelectric entity, built by Paraguay and Brazil. Mr. Canese also had “visibility” in the media, owing to his appraisals of and reports on energy-related issues. Mr. Canese’s political activities intensified as of 1993, when he took part in the first municipal elections as a candidate to the council for the civic party “Asunción para Todos.” Ricardo Canese’s statements about Juan Carlos Wasmosy’s relationship with the former dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, acquired the visibility “of information that is broadcast in the public arena in pre and post-electoral circumstances.” Mr. Canese’s statements reminded the public of an aspect of Mr. Wasmosy’s past at a decisive moment for the political future of the Republic. Moreover, it was information that many sectors of the public knew from the time of the Stroessner dictatorship. The discussion on possible acts of corruption and Mr. Wasmosy’s links with the Stroessner dictatorship was a topic of public interest, relevant for the electoral process and for the development of democracy in Paraguay. The Itaipú bi-national entity was and still is extremely relevant to Paraguay’s economy, because part of the expenditure of the national budget relates to that entity. CONEMPA was one of the major contractors in the construction and operation of the bi-national entity.