A forum on press freedom in the Americas also to be held at Andes University
Miami (January 16, 2013).-The president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Jaime Mantilla, will head a special delegation of the organization in Bogotá, Colombia, where on January 21 it will meet with 60 Colombian governors and mayors, who will add their signatures to the IAPA-inspired Declaration of Chapultepec that champions the upholding of journalistic values in the Western Hemisphere.
The signing of the document by the officials of the South American nation will take place at the Bogotá headquarters of the newspaper El Tiempo and will be attended by Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón. Also there will be directors and executives of the IAPA and of the National Association of Newspapers of Colombia (ANDIARIOS), as well as university students.
In addition to Mantilla, the IAPA delegation includes Jorge Canahuati, chair of the Chapultepec Committee and editor of the Tegucigalpa, Honduras, newspapers La Prensa and El Heraldo; Miguel Henrique Otero, chair of the Finance, Audit and Development Committee and president of the Caracas, Venezuela, newspaper El Nacional; Asdrúbal Aguiar, chair of the Legal Committee and member of the Chapultepec Ambassadors program; IAPA Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz, and Development Director Viviana Bianchi.
President Santos Calderón signed the Declaration of Chapultepec in November 2011 and by adding their signatures, the Colombian governors and mayors will underscore the commitment of Colombian institutions to the document, which is fundamental for freedom of expression in the Americas.
Since its promulgation in 1994 the Declaration has been signed by 61 presidents of nations in the Americas, including Bill Clinton of the United States.
In another development, on January 23 the IAPA will hold the forum “The State of Press Freedom in Latin America” as part of its Chapultepec Ambassadors program. This event will be held at the School of Social Science of the Universidad de Los Andes, with the participation of Chancellor Pablo Navas and Colombian academics and students.
The key IAPA activities in Colombia have been organized by the El Tiempo editor, Roberto Pombo, who is also vice chair of the Chapultepec Committee.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
