Impunity Mexico
WHEREAS, Mexico continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in which to practice journalism - not only because of the number of attacks committed in the last two decades, but also because a high level of impunity prevails;
WHEREAS, in view of the lack of justice, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) the cases of Alfredo Jiménez Mota, Francisco Ortiz Franco, Víctor Manuel Oropeza, Héctor Félix Miranda and Benjamín Flores González - which are in different procedural stages;
WHEREAS, Alfredo Jiménez Mota has been missing since April 2, 2005, and the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, made a public commitment in April to promote investigations; that, despite some efforts by the authorities, talks aimed at reaching a friendly settlement agreement with the State with the intermediation of the IACHR have not progressed, delaying even further the family's access to justice; that the organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, has been a co-petitioner in the case since 2018;
WHEREAS, the case of Francisco Ortiz Franco - murdered on June 22, 2004, in Tijuana - was admitted to the IACHR at the end of 2020, and on behalf of the family it was agreed to initiate a dialogue with State delegates, to evaluate a potential friendly settlement agreement, however, a recent investigation by the organization Alianza de Medios Mx (added as co-petitioner in the case) documented that the Attorney General's Office stopped investigating the murder, and - without officially notifying the victims - transferred the responsibility to the Baja California State Attorney's Office - denounced in reports by the journalist himself - which 17 years after the crime hasn't reported any progress, and hinders transparency regarding the case on grounds that they are still investigating it;
WHEREAS, 30 years after the murder of Víctor Manuel Oropeza Contreras - on July 3, 1991, in Ciudad Juárez - the crime remains in impunity, and the talks with State delegates to reach a friendly settlement agreement proceed at a slow pace;
WHEREAS, the case of Héctor Félix Miranda - murdered on April 20, 1988, in Tijuana - still has not been given full justice, and the recommendations by the IACHR to carry out a serious, complete, impartial and effective investigation to determine the criminal responsibility of all the murderers - and to adequately repair and compensate the family members for the violations of their human rights - remain unheeded;
WHEREAS, 24 years after the murder of Benjamín Flores González - on July 15, 1997, in San Luis Río Colorado, the violations to the rights to life, personal integrity, personal liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and the right to judicial protection - precepts set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights - still persist
WHEREAS, the State institutions responsible - at the federal level - for the defense and protection of the exercise of journalism and freedom of expression are being negligent in their legal responsibilities, as is the case of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and the Ministry of the Interior's Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, bodies that have become bureaucratized and limited in terms of resources - and which do not verify that the few protective measures they issue are complied with in the states;
WHEREAS, as the IAPA warned last year, the reform to the Organic Law of the Attorney General's Office resulted in the legal downsizing of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Attention to Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) - of which the IAPA was a promoter; that the legislation establishes that the Special Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights (Article 13, section VI) has a Unit in charge of these crimes, as well as those of torture, forced disappearance, search for persons, serious human rights violations, crimes against migrants and against indigenous communities - leaving this Unit with less staff, less autonomy and more crimes of other types to deal with; and that cases involving crimes related to freedom of expression that occur in the states will only be considered if they are deemed to be a serious violation of human rights, or if they come from the CNDH - among other criteria - limiting investigations regarding attacks on journalists and the media;
WHEREAS, despite the commitment made by officials of the Ministry of the Interior in 2019 - in a formal meeting held with representatives of the IAPA - to take care of the organization's cases brought before the IACHR, in a new meeting in 2021, the government representatives claimed ignorance about the cases and recommitted themselves to taking care of them;
WHEREAS, the impunity and the violation of the guarantees of the murdered journalists extends to the right of their relatives to know the truth and seek justice; and of the journalists to enjoy guarantees to be able to practice free and safe journalism;
WHEREAS, the authorities have the responsibility to clarify more than 136 crimes against journalists that have occurred in the last two decades;
WHEREAS, the lack of resolution in cases of murders of journalists, coupled with the violence and the impunity, restrict freedom of expression and of the press - as stated in the fourth principle of our Chapultepec Declaration.
THE 77th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
To reiterate to the government that it is its duty to put an end to the lack of justice that surrounds numerous other cases of murders of journalists in that country;
To urge the Attorney General's Office to assign adequate resources to the Unit that investigates cases regarding freedom of expression - and to refrain from placing obstacles to the investigations of attacks against journalists and the media;
To call on the Attorney General's Office to resume the investigation into the case of Francisco Ortiz Franco and to open the file on Alfredo Jiménez Mota;
To call on the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs to stop delaying compliance with the resolutions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;
To ratify the IAPA's commitment to continue to demand before the IACHR that the murders of journalists not go unpunished - that they not be forgotten - and to seek dignified reparations from the State for the families of the victims;
To work with the Alianza de Medios Mx - as the IAPA has been doing with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the Foundation for Press Freedom - to jointly represent cases brought before the IACHR and ensure that unpunished cases be resolved, that justice be served, and that the families of the victims receive moral and economic compensation.
To emphasize our hope that the cases of Héctor Félix Miranda, Víctor Manuel Oropeza, Benjamín Flores González, Francisco Ortiz Franco and Alfredo Jiménez Mota - as well as hundreds of other Mexican journalists whose unpunished murders continue to grieve the journalistic community - will be cleared up.
