It calls for urgent investigation to determine what led to the crime
MIAMI, Florida (June 19, 2015)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today condemned and expressed outrage at the murder in Mexico of journalist Ismael Díaz López, and called on the authorities to undertake an urgent and exhaustive investigation to determine if the motive for the crime was related to his work.
Díaz López, a reporter with the newspapers Tabasco Hoy and El Criollo, was killed yesterday at his home in the Teapa municipality of Villahermosa, Tabasco state. Early in the morning unidentified persons broke into his house and attacked him with a knife. He died as he was being transferred to a local medical center.
IAPA President Gustavo Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, condemned the murder and urged the authorities “to investigate exhaustively so as to determine whether the motive for the crime is connected to the victim’s work and to punish those responsible.”
The Tabasco State Attorney General’s Office wrote on its Twitter account that the investigation suggests that the most likely motive for the murder is “linked to a family conflict, based on previously existing legal evidence”.
Claudio Paolillo, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information and editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, added, “This new crime plunges the journalistic activity in Mexico into mourning, and although there is no certainty as to the motive, it is important that there be transparency and due diligence in the investigations so that the case, like many others, does not go unpunished.”
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.
