IMPUNITY/MEXICO

WHEREAS on April 14 the murder occurred in Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, of Abel Manuel Bautista Raymundo, director and founder of Radio Spacio 96.1 FM and president of the Association of Community Radio Stations “Vara 7,” after five months investigations by the state Attorney General’s Office have not advanced, so there is no clarity as to the motive for the crime, while local community radio stations have suffered various attacks by political and criminal groups over their services to the communities WHEREAS Filadelfo Sánchez Sarmiento, host of a news program in the city of Miahuatlán, Oaxaca, who was very critical of local political groups and due to this had received threats, was murdered on July 2 on leaving the radio station La Favorita 103.3 FM, of which he was also the manager, with the Attorney General’s Office to date showing no advance in its investigations WHEREAS lack of confidence in the authorities in charge of investigating attacks on journalists has grown in the face of lack of results, so any progress in solving the murders of journalists Armando Saldaña on May 4 in Oaxaca, Gerardo Nieto Álvarez on June 26 in Guanajuato, Juan Mendoza Delgado in Veracruz on June 30 and Rubén Espinosa on July 31 in the Federal District has not been accepted by their families and colleagues, in addition to the fact that in the documentation there is no evidence to confirm that the authorities have ruled out that the work as journalists was the motive but its rather focuses on personal or circumstantial theories WHEREAS Veracruz state is going through a state of emergency which the IAPA had previously reported on, because there continue to be unsolved and there not being put on trial all those responsible for the 18 murders and the disappearance of four journalists, although not all these attacks are believed to be connected to their profession, the impunity surrounding them prevents identifying the motives and opens up the possibility that the attacks continue, so this state continues to have the largest number of journalists having moved to other places or countries, given the lack of safety measures, and this has even allowed attacks upon newspapers’ assets and installations this year WHEREAS international bodies such as the United Nations or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have declared that Mexico is facing a serious situation concerning violation of human rights, the lack of freedom of expression being one of those violated rights, because in at least one third of the country self-censorship is the only way to stay alive, given the lack of safety and persistent impunity in the cases of murder and kidnapping of journalists according to local and federal officials in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and some regions in San Luis Potosí, Durango, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Morelos, Mexico State WHEREAS in the states of Campeche, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco, Puebla, Sinaloa and the Federal District there is evidence that in cases of threats, kidnappings, homicides, pressures and criminal or civil lawsuits there are municipal or state officials involved that through cybernetic or physical attacks on installations, as well as direct threats through social media, use these methods to censor critical media and journalists and, in some cases, even require them to move to other areas out of fear WHEREAS there continue to be direct attacks on journalists during coverage of demonstrations and protests, and acts of violence in a number of states, in the majority of cases there are involved, through commission or omission, local and federal police as there do not exist protocols on how to act regarding the work that the media carry out WHEREAS the Attorney General’s Office Special Public Prosecutor’s Office for Dealing with Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression continues without having a solid and effective structure and sufficient will to deal with cases of attacks on journalists, recording this year only a pror inquiry into homicide, another into a disappearance and 86 carried out into other offenses, in addition to lagging greatly behind WHEREAS at least a third of the country’s states have local laws for the protection of journalists, in addition to the Interior Ministry’s Mechanism for the Protection of Defenders of Human Rights and Journalists, but none of these tools has halted or reversed impunity nor the threats and risks for journalists in Mexico WHEREAS on August 10 there entered into force in the Federal District the Law on Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists of the Federal District which, by definition puts it as one of the most modern in the country, such is the case of how to regard journalism as an activity of public interest, guarantee physical, psychological, moral and economic integrity of journalists and their family members when they are at risk because of their work, and protect journalists who arrive from other places outside the Federal District as a result of the violence of which they were or could have been victims, however resources have not been assigned nor are known what staff have been assigned, essential elements to ensure that the mechanism will function adequately 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 GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to call upon the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office to investigate urgently and in depth the cases of attacks on journalists under its jurisdiction, put on trial all those responsible and that these be convicted, and in the event of not being able to do so to declare lack of competence and send the documentation to the Attorney General’s Office Special Prosecutor’s Office for Dealing with Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression to demand that the Attorney General’s Offices in Veracruz, Guanajuato, Oaxaca and Federal District that are carrying out in-depth investigations and that include not ruling out the theory of their profession as the motive of these murders of journalists committed in their states and that their investigations are reported publicly so no one has any doubt about them to urgently urge the Mexican Attorney General’s Office to place under its jurisdiction the cases of journalists murdered and disappeared in Veracruz, for these being systematic events committed possibly by local authorities or criminal groups, and in which the body’s public prosecutor’s office since 2003, when these things began, has not been capable of fully solving these attacks, which has reduced the spaces of freedom of expression and puts more journalists at risk to energetically demand the Attorneys Generals of the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Durango, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Morelos, Mexico State, Yucatán, Campeche, Guanajuato, Puebla, Sinaloa, Federal District and federal authorities urgently investigate and solve the cases of direct attacks and threats to journalists and news media installations so as to prevent a continuation of self-censorship and displacement of journalists and that there be an open door to commit bigger attacks to urge the federal, state and municipal forces linked to security in Mexico to draw up, publish and send to inside and outside of their institutions the protocols for action in various situations, so that both their people and the journalists themselves are aware of their rights and limits in coverage in which the two parties meet to demand of Mexican Attorney General Arely Gómez that he removes from the Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights Crime Prevention and Services to the Community and relocate that in one of the prosecutor’s offices that by definition are devoted to investigating the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Dealing with Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Expression and provide it with equipment, staff and sufficient financial resources for it to carry out its work seriously, opportunely and in depth to urge the federal and state governments, and that of the Federal District, to provide the laws and mechanisms of protection of journalists with trained staff, sufficient financial resources and sufficient infrastructure for them not to continue being ineffective and inefficient tools.