Venezuela

WHEREAS so far this year the government of President Hugo Chávez has carried out 113 attacks upon journalists, as denounced by the National Journalists Guild, the National Press Workers Union and non-governmental organizations; and WHEREAS in a ruling concerning a photo that showed a violation of human rights, a judge imposed prior censorship upon the newspapers El Nacional and Tal Cual ; and WHEREAS El Carabobeño newspaper reporter Francisco Pérez was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison and prohibited from working as a journalist and engaging in politics for alleged libel of a public official; and WHEREAS the political, judicial and police persecution of the president of Globovisión, Guillermno Zuloaga, has caused him to go into exile WHEREAS Principle 2 of The Declaration of Chapultepec says that “no one may restrict or deny “the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to demand the government of Hugo Chávez, which has a record of repeated and continuing abuse of the press and liberty of expression, to immediately implement measures and take action to restore in full the right of Venezuelan citizens to receive and transmit information in all its plurality, and to safeguard the free exercise of press liberty.