Impunity / Murders and Disappearances

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WHEREAS Since the São Paulo General Assembly four journalists have been killed – two in Brazil and two in Mexico, and in the latter the whereabouts of a female reporter remains unknown WHEREAS Rodrigo Neto, host of the radio show Plantao Policial, in radio Vanguardia, and reporter at Jornal Vale do Aco, Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, was murdered on March 8, 2013 WHEREAS Mafaldo Bezerra Goes, host of a program broadcast by Radio Jaguaribe FM in the municipality of Jaguaribe, Fortaleza, Ceará state, Brazil, was murdered on February 22, 2013 WHEREAS Jaime Guadalupe González, editor and reporter of the online newspaper Ojinaganoticias.com.mx in the town of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico, was murdered on March 3, 2013 WHEREAS Adrián Silva Moreno, a freelance journalist who was a stringer and covered the police beat for Global México Radio 11.70 and the newspaper Puntual Puebla, among other media in Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico, was murdered on November 14, 2012 WHEREAS in Mexico the whereabouts remain unknown of Adela Jazmín Alcaraz López, host of the newscast of cable television Canal 12 in Rioverde, San Luis Potosí, who went missing on October 26, 2012 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” WHEREAS this year six cases of Colombian journalists killed in 1993 expire through the statute of limitations. One of the cases is that of the director of the newspaper La Opinión of Cúcuta , Eustorgio Colmenares Baptista. WHEREAS Of the 139 murders that have occurred in Colombia since 1977, only 17 cases have ended with a conviction. THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES to condemn the murders of journalists in Brazil and Mexico and call upon the authorities of those countries to show greater political will, conduct swift investigations and rigorous administration of justice in order to prevent violence being maintained as an instrument to silence and control press freedom to urge the government of Brazil to deepen and speed up the investigations in to the murders so as to identify those responsible as perpetrators and masterminds to call on the government of Mexico, and those entities created to speed up the investigations into these and other murders and the disappearances of journalists, to carry out their role of dealing with these and other unpunished crimes so as to advance in the inquiries and ensure the effective application of justice. to exhort the Colombian justice system to streamline and continue on-going investigations to find and convict those responsible for these crimes and thus avoid expiration of these cases.

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