IAPA outraged at tenth murder of a journalist in Mexico so far this year
MIAMI, Florida (July 21, 2016)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed anger at the murder of Pedro Tamayo Rosas in Veracruz, Mexico, and called on the authorities to deal in-depth and painstakingly with attacks on press freedom in the country demonstrated by the number of journalists murdered.
Tamayo Rosas, 43, was killed yesterday (July 20) in Veracruz state. He covered violence issues and was given protection by state authorities after receiving threats from police officers in May this year. He was attacked in front of his wife and two children outside his home in the town of Tierra Blanca, according to the AFP news agency.
The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, declared, "Enough of acts of barbarity against journalists in Mexico, which are doubly violent due to the lack of justice and inability to solve the murders and other aggressions."
The State Committee for Attention to and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) had transferred Tamayo Rosas to Tijuana. However, a little while ago he had decided to return to Veracruz, according to local media. Although the motive for his murder is unknown the CEAPP said that it would not rule out "any line of investigation."
Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, added that what is need is "a firm, serious and deep commitment by the Mexican authorities to put an end to the violence and the impunity," in reference to the 10 journalists murdered in Mexico in the last seven months.
Tamayo Rosas worked among other media for online newspapers Al Calor Político (http://bit.ly/29Waage) and El Piñero de la Cuenca (http://bit.ly/29YrH8A) in Veracruz, regarded at the most dangerous state in Mexico in which to be a journalist.
The other journalists murdered so far this year are: Salvador Olmos García (Oaxaca, June 26), Zamira Esther Bautista (Tamaulipas, June 20), Elidio Ramos Zárate (Oaxaca, June 19), Manuel Torres (Veracruz, May 14), Francisco Pacheco Beltrán (Guerrero, April 25), Moisés Dagdug Lutzow (Tabasco, February 20), Anabel Flores Salazar (Veracruz, February 8), Reinel Martínez Cerqueda (Oaxaca, January 22) and Marcos Hernández Bautista (Oaxaca, January 21).
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.
