MIAMI, Florida (December 15, 2017)—The president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Gustavo Mohme, today announced the names of the new chairmen of the organization's committees who will accompany him during his 2017-2018 period in office.
Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República and former IAPA president (2014-2015), was elected to head the organization for a second term. In his inaugural speech during the General Assembly held in Salt Lake City, Utah, he called on the members and officers to "provide your efforts and knowledge to continue fighting together for those who have no voice and to defend press freedom in our hemisphere, as the strength of our institution does not depend solely on its leadership but on the delivery of each one of you."
"Press freedom deserves our greatest attention and I call upon you to accompany me in the task, the journalists murdered in recent years demand it of us, and a countless number of journalists threatened for carrying out this noble profession demand it of us," declared Mohme, who succeeds in the IAPA presidency Matt Sanders of Salt Lake City, Utah, who will now be heading the IAPA's Nominations Committee.
The officers chosen by the Nominations Committee in addition to Mohme include Honorary Lifetime President Scott C. Schurz, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Indiana; 1st Vice President María Elvira Domínguez, El País, Cali, Colombia; 2nd Vice President Christopher Barnes, The Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica; Treasurer José Roberto Dutriz, La Prensa Gráfica, San Salvador, El Salvador; Secretary Bartolomé Mitre, La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Executive Director Ricardo Trotti. The Executive Committee will be chaired by Jorge Canahuati, of Grupo OPSA, San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
The Press Institute, the IAPA's educational arm, is headed by Fabricio Altamirano, El Diario de Hoy, San Salvador, El Salvador, and Silvia Miró Quesada, El Comercio, Lima, Peru. The Scholarship Fund is headed by María Catalina Saieh, Copesa, Santiago, Chile.
The chairs of the working committees that accompany Mohme are:
Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Roberto Rock, La Silla Rota, Mexico City, Mexico.
Chapultepec Committee, Gilberto Urdaneta, El Regional del Zulia, Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela.
Impunity Committee, Juan Francisco Ealy Lanz-Duret, El Universal, Mexico City, Mexico.
International Affairs Committee, Miguel Henrique Otero, El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela.
Awards Committee, Marcel Granier, RCTV, Caracas, Venezuela.
Finance Committee, Hugo Holmann, La Prensa, Managua, Nicaragua.
Audit Committee, María Eugenia Mohme, La República, Lima, Peru.
Legal Committee, Gonzalo Zegarra, Semana Económica, Lima, Peru.
Membership Committee, Marcela Noble Herrera, Clarín, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fundraising and Resources Committee, Rolando Archila, Publinews, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Internet Committee, Ernesto Kraiselburd, El Día, La Plata, Argentina.
Future Sites Committee, Diego E. Quijano, La Prensa, Panama City, Panama.
Investments Committee, Jorge Canahuati, Grupo OPSA, San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
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 publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida.
