Impunity Murders

Aa
$.-

WHEREAS twelve journalists have been killed since April 2016: seven in Mexico, three in Brazil, one in Guatemala and one in the United States


WHEREAS Aurelio Campos, editor of the newsweekly El Gráfico de la Sierra in Huauchinango, Puebla, Mexico, was killed on September 14


WHEREAS Pedro Tamayo, a contributor to El Piñero de la Cuenca in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, Mexico, was killed on July 20


WHEREAS Salvador Olmos García, host of the program "Pitaya negra" on the community radio station Tuun Ñuu Savi in Huajuapan, Oaxaca, Mexico, was killed on June 26


WHEREAS Zamira Esther Bautista, an independent journalist and teacher in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was killed on June 20


WHEREAS Elpidio Ramos Zárate, a reporter for El Sur, Diario Independiente del Istmo in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, Mexico, was killed on June 19


WHEREAS Manuel Torres, editor of the news website "Noticias MT" in Poza Rica, Veracruz, Mexico, was killed on May 14


WHEREAS Francisco Pacheco Beltrán, a correspondent for Radio Capital in Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico, was killed on April 25


WHEREAS Maurício Campos Rosa, a journalist and owner of the newspaper O Grito in Santa Luzia, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, was killed on August 17


WHEREAS João Miranda do Carmo, owner and editor of the online news site "SAD Sem Censura" in Santo Antônio do Descoberto, Goiás, Brazil, was killed on July 24


WHEREAS Manoel Messias Pereira, owner of the news site www.sediverte.com.br in Grajaú, Maranhão, Brazil, was killed on April 9


WHEREAS Álvaro Alfredo Aceituno López, a journalist and director of Radio Ilusión in Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, was killed on June 25


WHEREAS Jay Torres, a journalist and photographer who contributed to La Estrella in Dallas, Texas, USA, was killed on June 13


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 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES


To condemn the killings of Aurelio Campos, Pedro Tamayo, Salvador Olmos García, Zamira Esther Bautista, Elpidio Ramos Zárate, Manuel Torres and Francisco Pacheco Beltrán in Mexico; Maurício Campos Rosa, João Miranda do Carmo and Manoel Messias Pereira in Brazil; Álvaro Alfredo Aceituno López in Guatemala; and Jay Torres in the United States


To urge the governments and the appropriate authorities in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and the United States to bring the full weight of justice to bear in order to determine the motives behind these killings, arrest the culprits and punish those responsible for ordering and carrying out the crimes


To reiterate that assaults of any kind on journalists are a threat to freedom of expression and freedom of the press


To foster, in journalists and media outlets, a culture of reporting violence and denouncing impunity in crimes against journalists.

Share

0