WHEREAS in Colombia this year five cases of murder of a journalist were subject to a statute of limitations those of Julio Daniel Chaparro, Jorge Torres Navas, Carlos Julio Rodríguez, José Libardo Meléndez and Arsenio Hoyos and those of other murders of journalists are at risk of becoming so under the law
WHEREAS in Mexico at risk of becoming subject to a statute of limitations and thus continuing to go unpunished are cases of 18 murders of journalists those of Jesús Michel Jacobo, Felipe González Hernández, Manuel Burgueño Orduño, Linda Bejarano, Ezequiel Huerta Acosta, Alberto Ruvalcaba Torres, Alfredo Córdova Solórzano, Lázaro Cárdenas, Alejandro Campos Moreno, Juvencio Arenas Gálvez, Gabriel Venegas Valencia, Roberto Antonio Mancilla Herrera, José Herrera Cañas, Jessica Elizalde de León, Abel Bueno León, Víctor Hernández Martínez, Margarito Morales Ramírez and Pedro Valle Hernández
WHEREAS in Mexico the murder of Héctor Félix Miranda became subject to a statute of limitations and the authorities of the state of Baja California and the federal government have shown no willingness or interest in responding to the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning this case, leaving the crime to go unpunished due to their lack of investigative action.
WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states 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 67 IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
to urge the Attorney General of Colombia to review elements that could serve for a re-opening of the proceedings and take the necessary action to prevent the cases of other murders of journalists becoming subject to a statute of limitations
to demand that the governments of Sinaloa, Mexico, Chiapas, Coahuila, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Chihuahua, Guerrero, and Jalisco states and the Federal District provide the results of investigations into murders of journalists in their areas of jurisdiction, so as to prevent the failure of justice
to urge the authorities of Chihuahua and the Mexican federal government to prevent the statute of limitations from applying in the case investigating the murder of Víctor Manuel Oropeza
to exhort the authorities of Baja California and the Mexican federal government to widen their investigations into the murder of Héctor Félix Miranda so as to identify the mastermind of the crime and bring him or her to justice
to call on the Mexican Congress to immediately pass the amendment to Article 73 of the Constitution to make crimes committed against freedom of expression fall under the jurisdiction of federal authorities.
