Nicaragua

WHEREAS on October 22 Tirso Moreno, a former “Contra” guerrilla, attacked La Prensa newspaper, shooting two handguns, issuing death threats and endangering several reporters and photographers WHEREAS Moreno and other supporters of former president Alemán, who has been accused of corruption and whose legislative immunity is being challenged, have criticized La Prensa and the independent media for their role investigating and reporting on corruption the former president reportedly is involved in WHEREAS the media that support Alemán have been conducting a systematic campaign accusing the independent media of instigating chaos and violence because of their accusations against Alemán, his relatives and associates WHEREAS those who support former president Alemán and especially his defender, lawyer and Deputy Noel Pereira Majano, have said that what happened at La Prensa resulted from a lack of true information and is just a hint of what could happen if Alemán loses his immunity and is jailed WHEREAS Principle 1 and 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declare that “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people” and that “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 IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to vigorously condemn the attack on the office of La Prensa that threatened the lives of its editors and journalists to ask Nicaraguan authorities to be on guard to prevent new attacks against any media outlet and to investigate the activities of groups close to ex-president Alemán that are trying to provoke violence to stop the trial of their leader to ask them to offer security guarantees to editors and journalists to prevent any new attacks to ask them to punish in an exemplary way the person or persons responsible for this attack.