WHEREAS impunity is the main incentive to continue attacking journalists and that is why the commitment of the IAPA that unpunished murders do not remain forgotten and that justice be done, for which it is necessary to call upon governments to give a public explanation of what occurred in each case and why they allowed there to become subject to statute of limitations the cases of Ezequiel Huerta Acosta (Coahuila 1989), Felipe González Hernández (Mexico State 1987), Alberto Ruvalcaba Torres (Jalisco 1989), Lázaro Cárdenas (Michoacán 1991); Alejandro Campos Moreno (Morelos 1991), and Jesús Michel Jacobo and Manuel Burgueño Orduño (Sinaloa 1987 and 1988, respectively) without those responsible being arrested
WHEREAS it is necessary to issue an alert to state and federal governments to prevent there becoming subject to statute of limitations the cases of Jessica Elizalde de León and Fernando Martínez Ochoa (Chihuahua 1993 and 1998, respectively), Cuauhtémoc Ornelas Ocampo (disappeared in Coahuila 1995), Abel Bueno León (Guerrero 1997), Margarito Morales Ramírez (Jalisco 1997), Enrique Peralta Torres and José Luis Rojas (Morelos 1994), Benjamín Flores (Sonora 1997) and Mario Morales Palacios (Tamaulipas 1999), cases that have not been closed, in which none of those responsible are in prison and in some cases the crime was not even investigated
WHEREAS nor have the cases of Héctor Félix Miranda, Víctor Manuel Oropeza, Alfredo Jiménez Mota, Francisco Ortiz Franco and Benjamín Flores González, submitted by the IAPA to the Inter-Americn Commission on Human Rights, received the appropriate attention and response of the states or of the federation to solve them
WHEREAS famiies and citizens have the right to the truth and the authorities should publicly recognize their responsibility in the face of ineffective institutional action in the investigations under their charge so that this does not continue to occur and in their case act legally against officials that have not complied with their role of resolving cases in those states in which there have occurred attacks, crimes against or the disappearence of journalists: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Mexico, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Veracruz
WHEREAS President Enrique Peña Nieto recently declared that it is necesary to review all the mechanisms of protection, and attending to this recognition the IAPA calls upon the Mexican government that this review be of an integral nature and together with all the country's states, so that it works in a coordinated and effective manner, because up to now it has been of a limited nature and with errors that have put those who give information at risk, especially the system of protection of journalists of the Interior Ministry
WHEREAS the Special Public Prosecutor's Office for Dealing with Offienses Committed Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) of the Mexican Attorney General's Offic should be at the head of attention to and follow-up of cases on attacks upon journalists and it has been turned merely into a collaborator of the state authorities, which makes its work even more ineffective despite its legal and operational capacities
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 MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
to ask the national government to deal firmly, promptly and in a comprehensive and coordinated manner with cases of violence against journalists and news media, and the resolutions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and give a public explanation of the cases that have already become subject to statute of limitations and that were not solved
to ask the government to stop crimes against journalists becoming subject to statute of limitations and to review and to provide to the system of protection professional and economic resources to prevent and combat violence and ensure the safety of journalists.
