Impunity - Paraguay

WHEREAS despite persistent demands from the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), there has been no progress in the case of Santiago Leguizamón, station director of Radio Mburucuyá, who was killed near the Brazilian border on Journalists’ Day, April 26, 1991 WHEREAS the Leguizamón case has been submitted by the IAPA to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), not only so that the case may be solved, but also to serve as a warning about other cases of slain journalists in recent years in Paraguay, which have not yet been satisfactorily solved either WHEREAS Alberto Palma Godoy, correspondent of Radio Chaco Boreal radio station in Mayor Julio D. Otaño city, was murdered on August 22, 2007 and his partner was wounded, he had felt under threat and because of this had decided to go to Chile, where he was born, and his reports on drug trafficking, smuggling and underground radio stations may have brought about his death WHEREAS Paraguyan journalists from the Mayor Julio D. Otaño area are defenseless in the face of threats and attacks from organized crime groups WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, 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 emphatically request that Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos ensure that the killings of journalists Santiago Leguizamón and Alberto Palma Godoy and also those of Calixto Mendoza, Salvador Medina and Samuel Román are solved, which are just a few of the many sad cases for which impunity is the common denominator to appeal to the conscience of the Paraguayan authorities regarding observance of the Declaration of Chapultepec, which was recently signed by President Duarte Frutos.