WHEREAS from the Medellín Midyear Meeting in April 2018 to date 20 journalists have been murdered in the region – 8 in Mexico, 7 from the United States, 2 in Brazil, 2 in Colombia and 1 in Nicaragua
WHEREAS Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist living in the United States and a columnist for The Washington Post, was murdered in early October at his country's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
WHEREAS Mario Leonel Gómez Sánchez, correspondent of El Heraldo in Chiapas, Mexico, was murdered on September 21
WHEREAS Marion de Carvalho Araújo, freelance radio reporter, who published news and videos on his Facebook account in Riachão da Jacuípe, Bahiá, Brazil, was murdered on August 16
WHEREAS Rodolfo García González, reporter of weeklies Día 7 and Nuevo Milenio, Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato, Mexico, was murdered on August 5
WHEREAS Jairo Alberto Calderón Plaza, director of the website Contacto, Tulúa, Valle de Cauca, Colombia, was murdered on August 2
WHEREAS Valentín Rúa Tezada, radio speaker on Salvajina Estéreo, Suárez, Cauca, Colombia, was murdered on August 2
WHEREAS Rubén Pat Cauich, editor of the online weekly Playa News, Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, was murdered on July 24
WHEREAS Luis Pérez García, editor of the magazine Encuesta Hoy, Mexico City, Mexico, was murdered on July 10
WHEREAS José Guadalupe Chan Dzib, reporter of the online weekly "Playa News Aquí y Ahora", Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico, was murdered on June 29
WHEREAS editors Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters and Gerald Fischman; sports reporter John McNamara and advertising assistant Rebecca Smith, of the newspaper Capital Gazette, Annapolis, Maryland, United States, were murdered in the paper's newsroom on June 28
WHEREAS Jairo Sousa, reporter of radio station Perla FM (Pérola FM), Bragança, Pará, Brazil, was murdered on June 21
WHEREAS María del Sol Cruz Jarquín, news photographer and Social Communication Secretary of the Oaxaca Indigenous Affairs Office, Oaxaca, Mexico, was murdered on June 3
WHEREAS Zachary Stoner, video blogger, journalist and freelance musician of television channel ZackTV1 on YouTube, Chicago, Illinois, United States, was murdered on May 30
WHEREAS Héctor González Antonio, correspondent of the newspaper Excélsior and Grupo Imagen group, Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, was murdered on May 29
WHEREAS Juan Carlos Huerta, director of the radio program "Panorama Sin Reservas" and host of the television news broadcast Notinueve, Tabasco, Mexico, was murdered on May 15
WHEREAS Ángel Gahona, reporter and cameraman of the online media outlet "Noticiero El Meridiano", Bluefields, Nicaragua, was murdered on April 21
WHEREAS in 2018 there have been murdered 29 journalists and news media workers and one other has disappeared, being one of the highest violence figures in recent times; while in some of these cases there exists uncertainty about whether the motive is linked to journalistic work, it is imperative to carry out exhaustive, technical, independent and serious investigations to determine in each case the reasons for the death
WHEREAS there continues to be unpunished the case of Hugo Bustíos, correspondent in Ayacucho of the magazine Caretas, murdered on November 24, 1988, following the acquittal of one of the main persons accused of the crime
WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes: ""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 74th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
to condemn the murders of Mario Leonel Gómez Sánchez, Rodolfo García González, Rubén Pat Cauich, Luis Pérez García, José Guadalupe Chan Dzib, María del Sol Cruz Jarquín, Héctor González Antonio, Juan Carlos Huerta, in México; Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters, Gerald Fischman, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Zachary Stoner, in the United States; Marlon de Carvalho Araújo and Jairo Sousa in Brazil; Jairo Alberto Calderón Plaza; Valentín Rúa Tezada in Colombia and Ángel Gahona in Nicaragua and Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey
to insist to the governments and authorities of Mexico, United States, Brazil, Colombia and Nicaragua that they comply with their responsibility to investigate swiftly, identify the perpetrators and masterminds and apply corresponding punishments on those involved in these crimes
to underscore that the murder of journalists and news media workers amounts to an extreme form of censorship and that impunity and the lack of justice encourage other acts of violence, leading to self-censorship as a means of defense generating an inhibitory effect in the exercise of freedom of expression
to urge the authorities in Peru to identify and punish those responsible for the murder of Hugo Bustios, one of the country's most emblematic cases
to reiterate that solidarity and opportune denunciation is one of the principal antidotes to counteract the violence against and murder of journalists.
