WHEREAS our Host Committee, headed by Rolando Archila Dehesa, Revista Contrapoder, and made up of Rodolfo Movil, El Periódico; Gonzalo Marroquín, Revista Crónica; Mario Alejandro Sandoval, Prensa Libre; Fernando Pintos, Excelencia Empresarial; Luis A. Gómez, Cervecería Centroamericana; Meir Finkel, Finkel, and Alejandro Arroyave, Revista Perro Bravo, combined their attentions and refined details with the natural beauty of Ant;gua, Guatemala in order to ensure the success of this Midyeaer Meeting
WHEREAS Margarita Klanderud and her team of male and female collaborators carried out with great professionalism the requirements of the Host Committee
WHEREAS the companies Bantrab, Cervería Centroamericana, Corporación Multi Inversiones, Inguat, Tigo, Google In;, Scott C. Schurz, IAPA Honorary Life President and Protecmedia offered generous sponsorships to ensure the success of the meeting
WHEREAS Casa Santo Domingo Hotel, under the direction of its owner, Jorge Castañeda, his son Diego Castañeda and general manager Ana Castañeda, contributed to an incomparable framework for our meeting
WHEREAS David Ho of Hearst Newspapers and Aura Llanas of the company Marfeel opened the seminars session on Friday with presentations on mobile platforms as the center of the strategies of distribution of news contents and that this session was moderated by Ernesto Kraiselburd, El Día, La Plata, Argentina
WHEREAS Mike Blinder of The Blinder Group spoke on the current conditions of the news industry and offered strategies to go on the path of digital transformation and he was introduced by IAPA Executive Committee Chairman Jorge Canahuati, La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
WHEREAS Juan Francisco Muñoz, managing director of the Grupo Financiero Bantrab financial group of Guatemala spoke of the social responsibility of the sector and the importance of the press
WHEREAS José María León, managing director of Protecmedia for Latin America, presented the new IAPA app for mobile phones that will enable our Association to increase the reach of its contents and activities
WHEREAS in Friday's third seminar Laura Montoya, Brandforge, Salt Lake City, Utah, and news media consultant Néstor Altuve, Panama City, Panama, spoke on new narrative norms in multimedia and their impact on media brands, and Silvia Miró Quesada, El Comercio, Lima, Peru, was the moderator
WHEREAS under the title "The Value of the Print Media in Times of 360" presented a perspective of the traditional press industry and how the constant change requires special cares for the print products that continue to be generating revenue, and this panel discussion had the participation of Russ Lowder, White Birch Paper, New York City, New York; Iris Chyi, The University of Texas in Austin, Austin, Texas; Christopher Kusel, Catalyst, Baskin Ridge, New Jersey, and Carlos de Córdoba, Resolute Forest Products, Miami, Florida, and Pedro Wahren, liaison for South America of Heinzel Group, Vienna, Austria, was the moderator
WHEREAS Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales honored the Midyear Meeting by officially opening the meeting and praised the role of the press as guardian of public freedoms and the president signed the Declaration of Chapultepec
WHEREAS in the same ceremony the mayor of Antigua, Guatemala, Susan Ascencio, welcomed the participants and her remarks were preceded by those of IAPA President Matt Sanders, Deseret Digital Media, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Rolando Archila, Revista Contrapoder, Guatemala City, Guatemala
WHEREAS the Corpocación Multi Inversiones (CM) company, co-sponsor of the Midyear Meeting, gave a video presentation on its services
WHEREAS during the meeting the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information on Saturday, following the reading of the first reports, presented a panel discussion on the issue of Security and the Press with the contributions of Sebastián Spósito, Jigsaw/Google, Mexico, on the issue of cyber security; Martha Ramos, Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), Mexico City, and Daniel McCosh, TV Azteca, Mexico City, on the situation of journalists in Mexico, and the app for protection of members of the press under risk SIPAlert, and Hugh Brumfit, Insurance for Journalism, England, concerning the new IAPA insurance program for journalists, and this session had the support sas moderator of the chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, La Silla Rota, Mexico City
WHEREAS during the lunch on Saturday the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Edison Lanza, offered a reflection under the title "Freedom of expression as guarantee of democratic stability" and Danilo Arbilla, Búsqueda, Montevideo, Uruguay, introduced the speaker
WHEREAS a panel discussion made up of Katie Townsend, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Washington, D.C.; Héctor E. Schamis, professor of The Latin American Studies Center of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and Emilio García-Ruiz, executive editor of the online The Washington Post, dealt with the challenge to freedom of the press and freedom of expression that the confrontation with United States President Donald Trump represents, and it had as moderator Roberto Rock
WHEREAS on Saturday the Host Committee offered a dinner at the Casa Santo Domingo Hotel that was enlivened by the musical group Caribbean Band, which contributed to creating the atmosphere of friendship and connection among the participants
WHEREAS on Sunday morning prominent lawyer Gregorio Badeni received during a special ceremony the Chapultepec Grand Prize for his contribution to the cause of press freedom in Latin America and the chairman of the Chapultepec Committee, José Roberto Dutriz, La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador, and IAPA President Matt Sanders, Deseret Digital Media, Salt Lake City, Utah, were in charge of introducing the award winner
WHEREAS lawyer José Ugaz, president of Transparencia Internacional, present in more than 100 countries, spoke on the state of the battle against public corruption in Latin America and Mario Alejandro Sandoval, Prensa Libre, Guatemala City, Guatemala, introduced him
WHEREAS in the panel discussion "Lights and shadows of the news media in Guatemala" a group of Guatemalan journalists went into depth on the issue of the responsibility of the press in the democratic life of nations and this was made up of José Rubén Zamora, elPeriódico, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Ileana Alamilla, Asociación de Periodistas de Guatemala; Felipe Valenzuela, Radioemisoras Unidas; Mario Fuente Destarac, Cámara de Periodistas de Guatemala, and Mario Sandoval, Prensa Libre, and also participating through video were Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana, and Guillermo Zuloaga Siso,TvVenezuela, Miami, Florida, was the moderator
WHEREAS Commissioner Iván Velásquez Gómez, head of the International Anti-Impunity Commission in Guatemala, spoke about his work at the level of the United Nations which is a unique case in the efforts to strengthen the institutional operation in the region and he was introduced by Gonzalo Marroquín, Crónica, Guatemala City, Guatemala
WHEREAS the panel discussion titled "The state of the battle against corruption in Latin America" had the participation of such specialists as Héctor E. Schamis, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; Javier Darío Restrepo, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, Bogotá, Colombia, and Fernando del Rincón, CNN en Español, Atlanta, Georgia, and the moderator of the panel discussion was Laura Puerta, Medcom, Panama City, Panama
WHEREAS on Sunday the director general of the Guatemala Tourism Institute, Inguat, Jorge Mario Chajón, gave a video presentation stressing the hospitality and natural beauty of Guatemala
WHEREAS during the lunch on Sunday Emilio García-Ruiz, executive editor of The Washington Post, gave a presentation on the evolution of the newspaper that has become one of the main proponents of the digitalization of the press in the world and was introduced by IAPA President Matt Sanders
WHEREAS the Host Committee offered a magnificent dinner on Sunday evening at the Cerro Santo Domingo mountain, a beautiful natural place overlooking Antigua, Guatemala
WHEREAS the final presentation in the Midyear Meeting was devoted to giving details of a project against the epidemic of false news that is harming journalism and the panel was made up of David Aponte, El Universal, Mexico City, and Ernesto Kraiselburd, El Día, La Plata, Argentina, with Lourdes de Obaldía, La Prensa, Panama City, Panama, as moderator
WHEREAS Carlos Jornet, La Voz del Interior, Córdoba, Argentina, Daniel Dessein, La Gaceta de Tucumán, Argentina, and Juan Pablo Illanes, El Mercurio, Santiago, Chile, contributed in coordinating the compilation and editing of the meeting's reports, resolutions and conclusions
WHEREAS the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) staff assigned to Antigua, Guatemala, carried out their tasks with a great sense of professionalism and service to the members of the Association and the rest of the participants in the meeting
THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES
to express in the name of IAPA's President Matt Sanders, its authorities, directors and members its deepest feelings of gratitude and appreciation to all those members that have come from various countries of the Americas and Europe, and to those persons and companies that contributed to and supported this successful meeting held in Antigua, Guatemala.
THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to express on behalf of the president, his officers, directors and members, his deepest gratitude and appreciation to the people and enterprises that supported this Midyear Meeting and especially
