Miami (December 29, 2009)–The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today condemned the murder of José Alberto Velázquez López in Tulum, SE Mexico, and called for an immediate investigation into the motive in order to bring the individuals responsible to justice in a country that has seen 10 other journalists killed this year.
Velázquez, 42, was the founding publisher of the magazine Expresiones and a stringer for Canal 30 television in Tulum, Quintana Roo, located on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. On December 22 as he drove along a city street he was shot at by two people on a motorcycle. Rushed to a hospital, he later died.
IAPA President Alejandro Aguirre, managing editor of the Miami, Florida, Spanish-language newspaper Diario Las Américas, expressed horror “at the level of crime afflicting the press in Mexico,” adding, “We trust the authorities will investigate thoroughly to quickly identify the motive and the perpetrators.”
Eugenio Morales, Expresiones’ editor-in-chief, said in an interview with the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit (RRU) in Mexico that Velázquez declared before he died that the attack was done by persons linked to the Tulum city government.
Morelos confirmed to the RRU that three or four months ago Velázquez received a warning saying, “We’re going to get your mother” – a threat he gave little importance to.
A lawyer, Velázquez practiced journalism for more than 20 years.
Shortly after the attack officials classified the crime as an act of passion, suspecting that the husband of Velázquez' might be responsible. In Morelos' view, this line of investigation is part of a campaign to discredit Velázquez so that the truth not be uncovered.
Velázquez is survived by his pregnant wife and three young children.
According to details gathered by the IAPA the following journalists were previously murdered in Mexico in 2009 in connection with their work: Bladimir Antuna García, Fabián Ramírez López, Norberto Miranda Madrid, Juan Daniel Martínez Gil, Ernesto Montañez Valdivia, Martín Javier Miranda Avilés, Eliseo Barrón Hernández, Carlos Ortega Melo Samper, Luis Daniel Méndez Hernández and Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez. The murders were committed in the states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero and Veracruz.
For more information on this case go the link: http://www.impunidad.com/index.php?shownews=444&idioma=sp
The IAPA is a not-for-profit hemisphere-wide organization based in Miami, Florida, dedicated o the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas.
