WHEREAS from April to early November, six reporters have been murdered in Mexico Juan Francisco Rodríguez of El Sol de Acapulco and María Elvira Hernández, a freelance reporter in Coyuca de Catalán, Guerrero, on June 28; Hugo Alfredo Olivera Cartas, correspondent of various media in Apatzingán, Michoacán, on July 6; Guillermo Alcaraz Trejo of the online TV of the State Human Rights Commission in Chihuahua, on July 10; Marco Aurelio Martínez Tijerina of Radio La Tremenda radio station Montemorelos, Nuevo León, on July 10, and Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco of El Diario de Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, on September 16 -- and another two journalists continue to be missing Ramón Angeles Zalapa of Cambio de Michoacán in Michoacán, who disappeared on April 6, and Evaristo Ortega Zárate of the weekly Espacio de Colipa in Coliopa, Veracruz, missing since April 19 all cases in which there has been no progress and all of which raises the level of impunity in the country; and
WHEREAS five journalists were murdered in Honduras in these past six months Israel Zelaya Díaz of Radio Internacional in Villanueva, Cortés, on August 24; Luis Arturo Mondragón of Canal 19 in El Paraíso, on June 14; Jorge Alberto Orellana of Televisión de Honduras in San Pedro Sula, on April 20, and Víctor Manuel Juárez and José Bayardo Mairena of Radio Excélsior in Olancho, both killed on March 26; and
WHEREAS two journalists were murdered in Brazil Francisco Gomes de Medeiros of Radio Caicó AM and the blog Pra Você in Caicó, Rio Grande do Norte, on October 18, and José Rubem Pontes de Souza of Entre-Rios Jornal, Três Rios, Paraíba do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, on October 30; and
WHEREAS while the initial verification with the Colombian and Mexican authorities indicated that the murders of Mauricio Medina Moreno on April 11 in Tolima and Oscar Riaño in Bogotá, Colombia, and of Miguel Angel Bueno Méndez of the Huxquilucan newspaper Nuestro Distrito on June 24 in Mexico state, Mexico, did not appear to be connected with their work, nevertheless the lack of prompt and effective investigations, as well as the absence of clear information, raises the possibility that the attacks may indeed have resulted from their work as journalists; and
WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states 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 demand in Mexico that the Special Prosecutors Office for Dealing With Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression review the cases occurring in these recent months and place them under its jurisdiction, given the lack of action by the state authorities; while at the same time to urge the state attorneys of Guerrero, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Chihuahua and Veracruz to investigate and identify those responsible for the murders of Juan Francisco Rodríguez, and María Elvira Hernández (Guerrero); Hugo Alfredo Olivera Cartas (Michoacán); Guillermo Alcaraz Trejo and Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco (Chihuahua) and Marco Aurelio Martínez Tijerina (Nuevo León), and the disappearances of Ramón Angeles Zalapa (Michoacán) and Evaristo Ortega Zárate (Veracruz);
to call upon the responsible entities in Honduras to see that justice is done in the murders of Israel Zelaya Díaz, Luis Arturo Mondragón, Jorge Alberto Orellana, Víctor Manuel Juárez and José Bayardo Mairena;
to urge the investigative agencies of Brazil to inquire in depth into the murders of Francisco Gomes de Medeiros and José Rubem Pontes de Souza, in order to determine the motives and bring those responsible to justice;
to ask the respective authorities of Colombia and Mexico to investigate the motives for the murders of Mauricio Medina Moreno and Oscar Riaño (Colombia) and of Miguel Angel Bueno Méndez (Mexico) in order to determine if they were killed because of their work as journalists and to punish those responsible.
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