Argentina

WHEREAS professional groups and journalists and media organizations have reported many attacks against writers, cameramen and photographers since last November WHEREAS Argentine press organizations have taken up the complaint of journalist Julio Rodríguez, correspondent of the newspaper Clarín in Santiago del Estero province, about the death threats against him and his family WHEREAS Rodríguez believes that the threat is a reprisal for his investigation of possible acts of corruption in the provincial government which could uncover possible irregularities by local political and financial groups WHEREAS in recent years, there have been serious incidents in Santiago del Estero which threaten press freedom, to the point that IAPA sent a special mission headed by its president at the time, Danilo Arbilla WHEREAS the crisis unleashed by the serious economic, political and instituational situation in Argentina has had harsh repercussions on journalist who have been attacked in record numbers WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "reedom 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 MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to contact the executive branch of the Argentine government to express the deep concern these attacks, threats and intimidation cause in the press of the hemisphere to demand that the appropriate institutions take precautions to prevent them from being repeated and to act quickly to investigate and punish the guilty parties to contact the authorities of Santiago del Estero province to reject the intimidation of Julio Rodríguez and demand a prompt investigation to identify those responsible for this reprehensible act.