MIAMI, Florida (October 24, 2014)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) during its recently concluded 70th General Assembly held in Santiago, Chile, elected its new officers for the 2014-2015 period, headed by Gustavo Mohme Seminario, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, as the organization’s president.
Mohme succeeds in that role Elizabeth Ballantine, editor and publisher of The Durango Herald, Durango, Colorado. Scott Schurz, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana, is honorary life president.
In his inaugural speech http://bit.ly/1nAmPJr Mohme said that “we are facing a far from easy scenario,” a reference to deterioration of press freedom in the Americas.
“My first message then is one of encouragement and solidarity to the harassed colleagues, we are with you, we accompany you in your daily work, we offer to redouble efforts to accompany you in your heroic stance, do not give up, we will not,” he stressed. Mohme also referred to new tasks, such as “the reaffirmation of freedom on the Internet in the face of restrictions by governments,” among others.
The list of officers who will be accompanying Mohme during his term at the head of the IAPA include fist vice president Pierre Manigault of The Evening Post Publishing Co. Charleston, South Carolina; second vice president Juan Luis Correa of La Estrella de Panamá, Panama City, Panama; treasurer Vivian-Anne Gittens of The Nation News, Barbados, and secretary Bartolomé Mitre of La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Executive Committee will be chaired by Jorge Canahuati of OPSA S.A., Honduras; chairing the Nominations Committee will be Elizabeth Ballantine.
In the Press Institute, the IAPA’s educational arm, the chairman of the Board of Governors is Matthew Sanders, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah; and the president is Silvia Miró Quesada, El Comercio, Lima, Peru. The Scholarship Fund will continue to be chaired by Gerardo García Gamboa, Novedades de Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.
Mohme also announced the list of the chairs of the other committees:
Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information will continue to be chaired by Claudio Paolillo, Búsqueda, Montevideo, Uruguay. Legal Affairs Committee, Gonzalo Zegarra, Semana Económica, Lima, Peru. Fundraising Committee, Miguel Henrique Otero, El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela, and María Catalina Saieh, La Tercera, Santiago, Chile. Strategic Plan Committee, María Elvira Domínguez, El País, Cali, Colombia. Internet Committee, Ernesto Kraiselburd, El Día, La Plata, Argentina. Chapultepec Committee, José Roberto Dutriz, La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador. International Affairs Committee, Fernán Saguier, La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Impunity Committee, Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, El Universal, Mexico City, Mexico. Finance Committee, Roberto Pombo, El Tiempo, Bogotá, Colombia. Awards Committee, Marcela Noble, Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Future Sites Committee, Lourdes de Obaldía, La Prensa, Panama City, Panama. Membership Committee, Ed McCullough, Associated Press, United States; Marcelo Rech, RBS, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and Felipe Edwards, El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile.Ricardo Trotti, current Director of the Press Institute and Press Freedom Coordinator, with the IAPA since 1993, was named Executive Director, a post he will hold beginning in January 2015. He will succeed Julio E. Muñoz, who will be leaving the organization after 32 years of service, 20 of them as Executive Director.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
