Impunity - Killings

WHEREAS nine journalists have been killed since October 2013: four in Brazil, two in Honduras, two in Mexico, and one in Colombia WHEREAS Geolino Lopes Xavier, aka Geo Lopes—creator of the blog “N3,” former city councilman, and former radio journalist—was killed on Feruary 27, 2014, in Teixeira de Freitas, Bahia, Brazil; and the crime is being investigated for any connection to the victim’s work WHEREAS Pedro Palma, owner of the publication Panorama Regional, was killed on February 13, 2014, in the city of Miguel Pereira, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the crime is being investigated to determine whether the motive is related to the newspaper’s criticism of the municipal government WHEREAS Santiago Andrade, cameraman for TV Band, died after being injured on February 6, 2014, while covering a protest in Rio de Janeiro WHEREAS Rômulo Laurentino de Sousa, on-air personality and creator of the “Aroeiras” website, was killed on October 31, 2013, in Aroeiras, Paraíba, Brazil WHEREAS media businessman Juan Carlos Argenal Medina was killed on December 8, 2013, in Danlí, Honduras, and the motives behind crime are under investigation WHEREAS cameraman Manuel Murillo Varela was killed on October 23, 2013, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Murillo Verela had been granted cautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as a result of previous incidents WHEREAS Gregorio Jiménez, a reporter for the newspapers Notisur and Liberal del Sur in Veracruz, Mexico, was abducted on February 5, 2014, and his body was found six days later WHEREAS Miguel Ángel Guzmán Garduño, a columnist for Vértice newspaper in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico, was killed on January 23, 2014 WHEREAS Yonni Steven Caicedo, cameraman for TV Noticias and Más Noticias, was killed on February 19 in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, Colombia 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 RESOLVES To condemn the killings of journalists in Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, and Colombia and to call on the authorities in these countries to demonstrate greater political will and administer justice rigorously; and to call for an alleviation of the climate of insecurity in which journalists work as a result of high rates of impunity To urge the Brazilian authorities to pursue and expedite the investigations into the killings of Geolino Lopes Xavier, Pedro Palma, Santiago Andrade, and Rômulo Laurentino de Sousa, so that these crimes may be fully solved; and to request that protective mechanisms be employed to ensure full freedom of the press To reiterate to the Honduran authorities the importance of quick, timely action to solve the killings of Juan Carlos Argenal Medina and Manuel Murillo Varela, so that the motives and culprits may be identiifed To urge the authorities in Mexico, and the entities created to expedite the investigations into the killings of Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz and Miguel Ángel Guzmán Garduño, to exercise their authority to assume jurisdiction over these cases in order to fully identify the motives behind these crimes and to ensure that justice is served To urge the Colombian justice system to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into the killing of Yonni Steven Caicedo in order to discover the motive behind the crime and to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.