Impunity - Guatemala I

WHEREAS the Guatemalan government recognized in an official declaration on August 9, 2000, the institutional responsibility of the state for failure to comply with the requirement in Article 1 of the American Convention on Human Rights to respect and guarantee the rights established in the convention and in Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala with respect to the case of journalist Irma Flaquer who disappeared WHEREAS on September 5, 2001, the first ceremonies were held to honor the journalist, which recorded the designation of a street in her name, the placement of a bronze plaque at the Freedom of Expression Monument and the celebration of a religious ceremony WHEREAS the president of the Supreme Court, Hugo Leonel Maul Figueroa promised to see that the Ombudsman’s Office reopen the case of Irma Flaquer to find those responsible for planning and carrying out her disappearance WHEREAS the Impetus Committee made up of the Presidential Coordinating Committee for Executive Policy on Human Rights (COPREDEH) and the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) met four times (October 15 in Washington; September 5 and July 5 in Guatemala City and June 8 in Miami) to support efforts in the criminal investigation and follow up the 12 points of the friendly agreement between the Guatemalan government and the IAPA WHEREAS efforts were made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in supervising the friendly agreement reached between the Inter American Press Association and the Guatemalan government WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that “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 note that President Alfonso Portillo has recognized the institutional responsibility of the state in the case of Irma Flaquer and committed himself to promote economic reparations to her family, to encourage investigations and trials and to honor her memory to thank the Guatemalan government and the municipal government of Guatemala City for holding ceremonies to honor Flaquer to reiterate to the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman’s Office of Guatemala the importance of reopening the investigations to find the murderers of Irma Flaquer to support meetings of the Impetus Committee in order to supervise the full compliance with the points in the friendly agreement with the main goal the reopening of the investigations by the Ombudsman’s Office to thank the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for is continual vigilance to see that the friendly agreement is used for the constant search for justice to show its respect for the relatives and reiterate that the Inter American Press Association will continue its efforts to see that justice is done in this case.