WHEREAS, since the General Assembly in October 2024, 10 journalists have been murdered for apparent reasons related to their professional work: one in Colombia, one in Ecuador, one in Guatemala, two in Haiti, four in México, and one in Peru; and one is missing in Guatemala, Haiti and México, respectively
WHEREAS Óscar Gómez Agudelo, host of the program The Community for the Community on Radio Rumba del Café and other local radio stations, was murdered in Colombia on January 24, 2025, in the city of Armenia, department of Quindío
WHEREAS Patricio Aguilar, director of the community newspaper El Libertador, was murdered in Ecuador on March 4, 2025, in Quinindé, province of Esmeraldas
WHEREAS Ismael Alonzo González, a contributor to the Coatepeque news outlet Despertar Occidental 2.0, was murdered in Guatemala on March 21, 2025, in the village of Santa Fe, municipality of Coatepeque, department of Quetzaltenango. Milton Polanco, from Noticias RDS, Radio La Peligrosa, has been missing since February 7, 2025
WHEREAS in Haiti, Markenzy Nathoux, a reporter for the Boston Caribbean Network and Radio Lavi FM, and Jimmy Jean, a reporter for the digital outlet Moun Afè Bon TV, were killed on December 24, 2024, during an armed attack on a hospital in Port-au-Prince. Jean Christophe, former Haiti correspondent for Voice of America since March 31, remains missing
WHEREAS, Kristian Uriel Martínez Zavala, reporter and administrator of the news website Silaoense MX was murdered in México on March 2, 2025, in the municipality of Silao, Guanajuato; Alejandro Gallegos León, director of the Facebook news website La Voz del Pueblo, whose remains were found on January 25, 2025, in the municipality of Cárdenas, Tabasco; Calletano de Jesús Guerrero, deputy director of the media outlet Global México, on January 17, 2025, in the city of Teoloyucan, State of México, and Mauricio Cruz Solís, director of the Minuto x Minuto website and host of the Enlace Informativo newscast on Radiorama station, on October 29, 2024, in the municipality of Uruapan, State of Michoacán. Miguel Ángel Castillo, administrator of the Panuco Online page, was reported missing in Veracruz on April 19, 2025
WHEREAS Gastón Medina Sotomayor, owner and director of Cadena Sur TV, was murdered in Peru on January 20, 2025, in the city of Ica
WHEREAS Fabiola Tercero Castro, journalist and founder of the reading promotion platform El Rincón de Fabi, remains missing in Nicaragua after her arrest on July 12, 2024, in Managua
WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "murder, terrorism, kidnapping, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators" severely restrict freedom of expression and of the press and that "such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly."
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
To condemn the murders of Óscar Gómez Agudelo in Colombia, Patricio Aguilar in Ecuador, Ismael Alonzo González in Guatemala, Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean in Haiti; Kristian Uriel Martínez Zavala, Alejandro Gallegos León, Calletano de Jesús Guerrero, and Mauricio Cruz Solís in México; Gastón Medina Sotomayor in Peru, as well as the disappearances of Milton Polanco in Guatemala, Jean Christophe in Haiti and Miguel Ángel Castillo in Mexico
Demand that the Nicaraguan government answer for the whereabouts of Fabiola Tercero, who has been missing for more than nine months
Urge the governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, México, and Peru to fulfill their responsibility to identify those materially and intellectually responsible for the murders, to determine the motives for the crimes, and to apply the corresponding sanctions, so that these crimes do not go unpunished
Call on the governments of Guatemala and Haiti to provide the necessary resources to locate the missing journalists alive.
