WHEREAS, since the Mid-Year Meeting in April 2021, nine journalists have been murdered for apparent reasons related to their professional work - six in Mexico, and one each in Brazil, Colombia and Haiti;
WHEREAS, since the Mid-Year Meeting in April 2021, nine journalists have been murdered for apparent reasons related to their professional work - six in Mexico, and one each in Brazil, Colombia and Haiti;
WHEREAS, in Mexico the following were murdered: Jacinto Romero Flores, broadcaster of Ori Stereo and the program Radio Ixtac Online, in Ixtaczoquitlán, Veracruz, on August 19, 2021. Ricardo Domínguez López, owner and director of the portal InfoGuaymas, in Guaymas, Sonora, on July 22, 2021. Abraham Mendoza, host of the news program Observatorio on the Universidad Vasco de Quiroga radio station, broadcaster of station EXA Morelia and host of the news magazine VocesRadio, in Morelia, Michoacán, on July 19, 2021. Saúl Tijerina Rentería, journalist and freelance photographer; contributor to Noticias en la Web, La Voz and Policíaca Acuña, in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, on June 22, 2021. Gustavo Sánchez Cabrera, director of the digital media Noticias Minuto a Minuto, in Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, on June 16, 2021. Benjamín Morales Hernández, founder of the Noticias Xonoidag website, Sonoyta, Sonora, disappeared on May 2, found dead on May 3, 2021;
WHEREAS, in Brazil, Eranildo Cruz, former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tribuna Regional, in Almeirim, Pará, was murdered on September 6, 2021;
WHEREAS, in Colombia, Marcos Efraín Montalvo, an independent journalist who wrote on two Facebook pages on political issues, local administrative management and municipal security, was murdered in Tuluá, Valle del Cauca, on August 19, 2021;
WHEREAS, in Colombia, the statute of limitations will expire in December for the crime against journalist Álvaro Alonso, editor of the newspaper Región, who was murdered on December 23, 2001;
WHEREAS, in Haiti, Diego Charles, a reporter for Radio Vision 2000 and the Gazette Haïti digital newspaper, was murdered in Port-au-Prince on June 29, 2021 - during a shootout against civilians;
WHEREAS, in Honduras, the National Violence Observatory (ONV) of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) urged the government in May to investigate and ensure that 90 murders of journalists and communicators between 2005 and 2020 do not go unpunished;
WHEREAS, Principle 4 of the Chapultepec Declaration states: "Murder, terrorism, kidnapping, coercion, intimidation, unjust imprisonment of journalists, physical destruction of the media, violence of any kind, and impunity for perpetrators severely restrict freedom of expression and of the press. These actions must be promptly investigated and severely punished."
THE 77th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
To condemn the murders of Jacinto Romero Flores, Ricardo Domínguez López, Abraham Mendoza, Saúl Tijerina Rentería, Gustavo Sánchez Cabrera and Benjamín Morales Hernández, in Mexico; Eranildo Cruz, in Brazil; Marcos Efraín Montalvo, in Colombia; and Diego Charles, in Haiti;
To urge the governments of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Haiti to assume their responsibility to identify all those responsible for the murders and disappearances - and to apply the corresponding punishments, so that those crimes do not remain in impunity and without justice;
To call on the authorities in countries with security systems to guarantee efficient protection mechanisms for journalists - by assigning adequate financial, technical and human resources.
