WHEREAS Venezuela is listed as one of the most dangerous countries in the world, where impunity reaches alarming levels;
WHEREAS the closing of media outlets continues as an on-going practice, with emblematic cases such as the thirty-four broadcasters shut down in 2009 and the RCTV television channel;
WHEREAS journalists, employees and media owners are threatened and have felt obligated to go into exile outside the country , because of the police, political, and legal persecution that the government promotes;
WHEREAS the media live under constant threats of sanctions and shut-downs;
WHEREAS the electoral process leading up to the October 2012 elections demands respect of journalists and guarantees of the power to inform freely on everything that occurs in this transcendental process;
WHEREAS Principle one of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people.
THE MID-YEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to ratify the totalitarian character of the Venezuelan government headed by Hugo Chávez;
to demand that the government of President Chávez guarantee human rights and freedom of information;
to ask President Chávez to guarantee the life and integrity of journalists, their fellow workers, and their property;
To demand that government allow the presence of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights in the country;
to demand of President Chávez and his ministers access to sources of information, especially during this transcendental stage of the electoral process.
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Madrid, Spain
