MIAMI, Florida (September 25, 2008)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on newspaper readers throughout the Americas to sign an open letter to Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo seeking his aid in bringing about the arrest and punishment of those guilty of the August 22, 2007 murder of Chilean-born radio reporter Alberto Palma Godoy.
With the aim of silencing his broadcast comments about and denunciations of local politicians being linked to fuel smuggling and drug trafficking hit men disguised as soldiers burst into Palm Godoy’s home in Mayor Otaño in the Paraguayan province of Itapúa and riddled him with bullets in front of his family. Brothers Favio and Nelson Vera Sanabria, accused of carrying out the attack, remain at large.
The IAPA is waging a hemisphere-wide campaign titled “Let’s Put an End to Impunity” for crimes against journalists in the Americas not to be allowed to go unpunished. Interactive ads are appearing in more than 300 newspapers, inviting readers to go to the Web site www.impunidad.com and add their signature to the letter that is sent to the president in each relevant country.
The anti-impunity campaign, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also consists of training for reporters working in dangerous environments and the monitoring of the state of freedom of the press in the Americas.
