Impunity - Guatemala II

WHEREAS Jorge Mynor Alegría Armendariz, journalist and news director of the militant program “Direct Line” was shot to death on September 6 in Puerto Barrios WHEREAS Alegría received death threats after making serious reports of corruption by municipal and state authorities and these threats were confirmed by investigations by Guatemalan journalists and by Human Rights Prosecutor Julio Arango who called the crime “political” WHEREAS no investigation has begun so far to determine who threatened Alegría, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office has not acted with the speed the case deserves WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “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 demand that authorities in the Public Prosecutor’s Office continue and intensify the investigation of the case until those responsible for planning and carrying out the crime are put on trial to send a representative of the IAPA Rapid Response Unit to contribute to the solution of this new murder of a journalist who reported corruption to keep watch over the authorities’ efforts to solve the case and see that justice is done.