Continued lack of punishment deplored 10 years after his disappearance
MIAMI, Florida (April 2, 2015)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today noted the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of journalist Alfredo Jiménez Mota, missing since 2005; and publicly criticized the government of Mexico for the lack of progress and the impunity surrounding this and numerous other cases of murders of members of the press in that country.
IAPA President Gustavo Mohme decried “the lack of action and punishment that persist in this emblematic case.” Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, said that the disappearance of the journalist was the first case of this nature registered in Hermosillo, the city where the lived.
Following an investigation carried out by the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit in Mexico it was documented that with this case had begun “a new stage in the country where the mafias decided to demonstrate their power and silence the journalists that bothered them, which along with corruption brought about a circle of impunity that would protect them.”
The IAPA submitted the results of the investigation to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2009, assigned the reference number P-348-09. Within the framework of the anniversary, information was also asked of the IACHR, the agency that serves as intermediary in communications between the Mexican government and the IAPA.
For his part the chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, added, “It is regrettable that 10 years later there are still no results. That is why it is up to us to continue demanding that this case does not remain unpunished and we must do everything possible so that it is not forgotten, as numerous other cases that have not been solved.”
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists because of its numerous cases of murders, disappearances, threats, harassments and displacements, “product of a lack of effective guarantees to exercise the right to freedom of expression,” declared Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda.
Jimenez Mota disappeared Saturday, April 2, 2005 and neither the members of his family, his colleagues nor the authorities, have been able to learn of his whereabouts. The disappearance has been linked to his work, in which he specialized in matters of organized crime and public security for the Hermosillo, Sonora state, newspaper El Imparcial. Despite his young age – 25 – he was respected and recognized by his colleagues for the news sources he had accumulated and for the tenacity he showed in his work.
The IAPA also noted that Principle 4 of the IAPA-sponsored 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 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.
