WHEREAS our Host Committee, headed by the executive president and chief executive officer of El Universal, Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, and its editor-in-chief, Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz Lanz Duret, and El Universal executives David Aponote, Enrique Bustamante, Eduardo Vorhauer and Rossana Fuentes Berain, and also made up of Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Benjamín Salinas Sada, Luciano Pascoe Rippey and Daniel McCosh of TV Azteca and of the president and director general of Organización Editorial Mexicana, Paquita Ramos de Vásquez, and its assistant director general, Francisco Torres Vásquez, and ejecutives Francisco Torres Cano and Pilar Ferreira García, was a key factor in the success of our General Assembly
WHEREAS the 72nd General Assembly received the generous support of the following organizations and companies that sponsored hospitality events: El Universal, TV Azteca, Organización Editorial Mexicana, IBM, Google, El Universal News Agency, Telefónica, Protecmedia and Xinhúa
WHEREAS the firm Google played a prominent role in the 72nd General Assembly, with the presence of three of its executives in presentations, and which in addition has offered its support to the Inter American Press Association to explore new forms of future cooperation
WHEREAS on Thursday afternoon in the General Assembly's first panel discussion titled "Ad Blockers: A Great Opportunity" Laura Montoya de Brandforge, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Vegard Johnsen, Google, Mountain View, California, dealt with one of the fundamental issues of the news media's transition to digital platforms and Rafael Bonnelly, clicLogix, Miami, Florida, took part in the session as moderator
WHEREAS Miguel Calderón of Telefónica, Mexico, spoke on digital development in Latin America, emphasizing the need to encourage the growth of companies providing digital services in the region and Fabricio Altamirano, El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador, was in charge of introducing the speaker
WHEREAS in Thursday afternoon's second panel discussion Laura Múgica of Taller de Editores, Madrid, Spain, and Katherine Haine of City Media, Ontario, Canada, gave presentations of great interest for print media on business opportunities in the area of magazines, as part of a new synergy for newspapers and in addition their panel discussion had the input as moderator of Fernando Gómez Carpintero, Protecmedia, Madrid, Spain
WHEREAS in Thursday's final session George Conard of Jigsaw, of Alphabet, Google in the United Kingdom explained the extent and objectives of Project Shield as a strategy of his business to create a more secure digital ecosystem for producers of content, and as moderator of the session was IAPA Second Vice President Matthew Sanders of the firm Deseret Digital Media of Salt Lake, City, Utah
WHEREAS in panel discussion 3 held on Friday morning important such media representatives as Mary Beth Sheridan of The Washington Post; Kim Murphy of Los Angeles Times and Michael Reid of The Economist spoke about the future of United States relations with Latin America in light of the U.S. presidential elections to be held in a few weeks amid a great international expectation, and this panel discussion was moderated by Alberto Bello of Grupo Expansión/CNN
WHEREAS in the panel discussion "Press, Digital Revolutions and Democracy" Joyce Barnathan of the International Center for Journalists in Washington; Tiago Mali of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji), São Paulo, Brazil, and Jorge Zepeda of SinEmbargo, Mexico City, Mexico, spoke on the strengthening of democratic institutions through the adoption of new technologies which at the same time also entail risks for societies, and in the role of moderator of the session was Marcel Granier of RCTV, Caracas, Venezuela
WHEREAS at midday on Friday Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto gave with his presence further importance to the official opening ceremony of the 72nd General Assembly, giving a key address and in addition his endorsement of the Declaration of Chapultepec, and also the words of welcome to the ceremony were in the charge of Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, and taking part in this ceremony IAPA President Pierre Manigault gave a report on the achievements of the last year and the challenges that are facing the IAPA
WHEREAS during the Friday lunch the editor of the Madrid, Spain, newspaper El País, Antonio Caño, produced interesting concepts on the change in culture in newsrooms and in her role as presenter Rossana Fuentes Berain, founder of Media Lab S21, Mexico City, gave a pleasantly made presentation
WHEREAS on Friday afternoon in the fifth panel discussion of the 72nd General Assembly a group of specialists made up of Edgar Corzo Sosa of the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico; Javier Horacio Contreras of El Heraldo of Chihuahua, Mexico, and Víctor Murguía of Organización Editorial Mexicana, Jalapa, Mexico, and with David Aponte of the newspaper El Universal as moderator, discussed how to break the cycle of impunity and violence in Mexico
WHEREAS Uruguayan journalists Andrés Danza of Búsqueda, Montevideo and Ernesto Tulbovitz of the Canelones administration in Montevideo, authors of a best-selling book on the life of former Uruguayan President José Mujica, spoke of the personality of the former head of state, who is the object of international admiration
WHEREAS Former president José Mujica honored the 72nd General Assembly with his presence and, under the title "Is a New Leadership Paradigm Emerging?" shared his vision concerning how to confront the most acute problems of the region such as poverty, drug trafficking and corruption and also answered questions during the session by former IAPA president Gustavo Mohme, La República, Lima, Peru
WHEREAS on Friday evening the participants in the 72nd General Assembly were the object of attentions and demonstrations of great hospitality during a dinner and folklore and musical show given by the company TV Azteca and the host of the event was Benjamín Salinas
WHEREAS on Saturday Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, of El Universal, and Ricardo Salinas Pliego de TV Azteca took part in an interesting panel discussion on press freedom and as moderator Héctor de Mauleón of Revista Nexos, Mexico, gave his support in that he announced and demonstrated the new IAPA initiative for journalists at risk, SipAlert, an online warning system
WHEREAS during the Saturday lunch Abderrahin Foukara of the news network Al Jazeera of the United Arab Emirates gave an interesting speech about the challenges of news coverage in a world torn by terrorism and Persio Maldonado of El Nuevo Diario, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, gave the presentation of the speaker
WHEREAS on Saturday afternoon, before an audience that had shown interest during all the events, panelists Carlos Jornet, La Voz del Interior, Córdoba, Argentina; Eleonora Rabinovich of Google, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Carlos Brito of the Network in Defense of Digital Rights (R3D), Mexico City, Mexico, spoke about the challenges that are presented by the right to be forgotten and its coexistence with freedom of expression and of the press, and Lourdes de Obaldía of La Prensa of Panama enriched the panel discussion as moderator
WHEREAS on Saturday evening the participants in the 72nd General Assembly attended a very special event that began with a walk along the Paseo Reforma avenue to visit the Galería del Bosque art gallery where they saw a beautiful exhibition marking the centenary of the newspaper El Universal and afterwards the host paper offered an unforgettable dinner with a musical show, fireworks and lights, a ceremony in which the IAPA celebrated the 100th anniversary of one of the most important members and which also featured a speech by IAPA President Pierre Manigault
WHEREAS on Sunday morning the General Assembly's panel discussion number 7 on "Theft of Content and Freedom of Expression" generated a great deal of interest and was made up of Javier Tejado Dondé of Televisa, Mexico; Diego Leonel de Cervantes, Azteca Internet, Mexico; Carlos Marín of Milenio, Mexico; Mario Tascón of Prodigioso Volcán, Madrid, Spain, and Vegard Johnsen of Google y, with as moderator Francisco Santiago, El Universal, Mexico
WHEREAS following this a group of international news agency journalists made up of Marjorie Miller of Associated Press (AP), New York, New York; Raúl Cortés of Efe, Madrid, Spain, and Simon Gardner, Thomson Reuters, United Kingdom, spoke about how those organizations are adapting themselves to the new digital environment through new products and new functions
WHEREAS in the General Assembly's final panel discussion on Sunday afternoon a representative of IBM, Baltazar Ramírez, spoke about how the new communication technology works for the sustained growth of the news media and the societies they serve and Carlos Mantilla, El Comercio, Quito, Ecuador, made an important contribution as moderator
WHEREAS on Sunday evening the Mexican Editorial Organization (OEM) sponsored a reception and dinner that featured the annual presentation of IAPA awards for excellence in journalism with the remarks of its executive director, Francisco Torres Vásquez
WHEREAS the dedication of the IAPA working team in Mexico City was of great importance for the successful holding of the General Assembly and it had the support of outstanding staff on the part of the Host Committee
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to express on the part of the President of the IAPA, Pierre Manigautl, its officers, directors and members their deepest sense of gratitude and appreciation to the people and companies that contributed to and supported this successful meeting held in Mexico City