Impunity - Mexico III

WHEREAS despite the fact that a task force was set up on March 25, 2004, to review the case file for the homicide of Héctor Félix Miranda, and despite the fact that the IAPA expressed its full willingness at the first meeting on April 23 to work on the task force through four subsequent meetings, for the purpose of making progress toward compliance with the basic report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), it is clear that the Mexican government has broken its agreements and has done absolutely nothing to comply with the IACHR’s recommendations, because in the last two meetings — including one in September 2007 with the Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, assistant secretary for multilateral affairs and human rights — no progress has been shown WHEREAS on April 13, 1999, in case number 11739, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued three binding recommendations to the Mexican government, which may be summarized as carrying out a serious, thorough, impartial and effective investigation to determine who is criminally responsible for the killing of columnist Héctor Félix Miranda, whether protection was provided for the culprits, and whether a thorough investigation was obstructed; as well as to compensate for the harm caused WHEREAS despite the assertions by the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office that it is working on the investigation into the killing of columnist Víctor Manuel Oropeza, thus far neither it nor the national government have shown any indication that they intend to comply with the rulings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, despite the IAPA’s willingness to help as expressed as far back as the first work meeting held February 9–10, 2005 (there have been three in all), but as seen in recent work meetings in 2006 and September 2007 at the Ministry of Foreign Relations with Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, assistant secretary for multilateral affairs and human rights, no progress has been made and no specific information has been offered, other than arguments for trying to shut down the case WHEREAS on November 19, 1999, the IACHR ruled in case number 11740 that the Mexican government should conduct a thorough, impartial, effective investigation to determine the culpability of all those involved in the killing of columnist Víctor Manuel Oropeza, and also to determine whether protection was provided for the culprits and whether a thorough investigation was obstructed; as well as to provide the Oropeza’s family with appropriate compensation WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to call on the Mexican government to comply promptly with the agreements it has reached at work meetings and to honor the recommendations of the IACHR regarding the investigation into the killing of Héctor Félix Miranda, rather than delaying matters and offering cunning legal arguments to demand that the Mexican government demonstrate the willingness to pursue the investigation into the killing of Víctor Manuel Oropeza in line with the recommendations of the IACHR, and that it abandon in intentions to shut down the case.