IAPA
March 26, 2020
With the death of Bartolomé Mitre, editor of the newspaper La Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina, the president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Christopher Barnes, said that "we are shocked and saddened by the death of our colleague, editor and many decades secretary and key man of our institution ".
After expressing "condolences to his wife Nequi, his daughters and sons, and to all the colleagues in the great family of La Nación," Barnes, from the Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner, added that despite the pain caused by the death on March 25th of our colleague, "we want to celebrate his memory as he was one of the strongholds of our IAPA, his dedication, commitment and responsibility to fight for freedom of the press in Argentina and throughout the Americas."
As referred by the deputy director of La Nación and prominent journalist, José Claudio Escribano, "the name of the director who died today has been associated, beyond his direct participation in this or that accomplishment, with a stage of gigantic transformation of the newspaper."
"Heir to a surname that is synonymous with journalism in Argentina," Mitre was recognized and awarded on numerous occasions as a defender of freedom of expression, according to the newspaper Perfil, Buenos Aires.
Mitre, great-great-grandson of the founder of La Nación and former President of Argentina, Bartolomé Mitre, represented the newspaper at the IAPA, long before he was appointed director of the daily in 1982. Since then he has served on the Board of Directors of the IAPA and for more than 20 years, he was a member of the Executive Committee, the organization's highest leadership body, where in the last five years he served as secretary.
Despite his health problems in recent years, Mitre along with his wife Nequi and son Santos, regularly attended the organization's semi-annual meetings. Last October he participated in the company of his son in the IAPA general assembly in Miami in which he celebrated the organization's 75th anniversary.
for the organization's 75th anniversary.
In addition to being a prominent associate of the IAPA, he was also a member of the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA), founder and president of the Grupo de Diarios América, and actively participated in the International Press Institute, among other national and international organizations. Mitre was the author of the books "Without freedom of the press there is no freedom" and "The right of reply".
"We lose a soldier in the fight for the freedom of the press, but we won a legacy," said the IAPA president.
