IAPA, RFK Human Rights, and the Mexican government make reparations in case of missing journalist

Aa
$.-

Miami (December 7, 2021) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFK Human Rights) expressed satisfaction with the public act of reparations for the case of Alfredo Jiménez Mota, a Mexican journalist who disappeared in 2005. The ceremony will be held this Wednesday and commits the State of Mexico to reparations to the victim's relatives, and seek justice.

Alfredo Jiménez Mota, a journalist with El Imparcial, a newspaper based in Hermosillo, Sonora, disappeared on April 2, 2005. His body is still missing. The most widely held hypothesis is that he was disappeared in retaliation for his investigations and publications on drug trafficking activities.

After several years of negotiations between the State of Mexico, the IAPA, and RFK Human Rights, through the intercession of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Public Act of Recognition of State Responsibility for the disappearance of the journalist will take place this December 8 in the city of Empalme, Sonora. In addition, the parties will also sign a Friendly Settlement, which provides for material and moral reparations for the family, measures of non-repetition, and the search for justice.

The IAPA presented the Jiménez Mota case before the IACHR on March 11, 2009. RFK Human Rights joined as a co-petitioner organization in 2018.

"This case motivated us at IAPA to convene a meeting in Hermosillo of Mexican editors a few months after Alfredo's disappearance. After the Hermosillo Declaration, the editors of Mexico committed ourselves to confront together the violence of drug trafficking against the press," said Roberto Rock, IAPA second vice-president and editor of La Silla Rota, Mexico City, who will represent the petitioners' organizations during the ceremony.

Jorge Canahuati, IAPA president and CEO of Grupo Opsa, of Honduras, said, "Beyond our satisfaction with the agreement reached with the government, we will continue to demand justice and measures to prevent violence against journalists and the media in Mexico."

Alfredo Jiménez Hernández, Esperanza Mota Martínez and Leticia Jiménez Mota, father, mother and sister of the victim, will participate in the event. In addition to Rock, the IAPA delegation will include Luis Alberto Healy, chairman of the board of Grupo Healy, and Lourdes C. Lugo, editorial director of El Imparcial. Furthermore, the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration of the Ministry of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez, and the Governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo Montaño, among other local authorities, will represent the State.

The event will take place at 1:00 p.m. at the Plaza Independencia "El Tinaco", located in Benito Juarez Garcia, Moderna, Empalme, Sonora.

IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.

Founded in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights promotes Robert F. Kennedy's vision of a more just and peaceful world. In partnership with some of the bravest human rights defenders on the ground, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights uses strategic litigation and advocacy to hold governments accountable and seek justice around the world.

Share

0