WHEREAS, since the October 2021 General Assembly, 15 journalists have been murdered for reasons apparently related to their professional work - 10 in Mexico, 3 in Haiti, and one each in Guatemala and Honduras
WHEREAS, in Mexico the following were murdered: Armando Linares - director of the news portal Monitor Michoacán, on March 15, 2022, in Zitácuaro, Michoacán; Juan Carlos Muñiz - police reporter for the portal Testigo Minero and contributor to several radio stations, on March 4, 2022, in Fresnillo, Zacatecas; Jorge Camero - director of the portal El Informativo, on February 24, 2022, in Empalme, Sonora; Heber López Vásquez - director of the portal RCP Noticias, on February 10, 2022, in the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca; Roberto Toledo - journalist of the news portal Monitor Michoacán, on January 31, 2022, in Zitácuaro, Michoacán; Lourdes Maldonado - reporter and host who broadcasted on Radio Sintoniza Sin Fronteras and on social networks directed the program "Brebaje", on January 23, 2022, in Tijuana, Baja California; Margarito Martínez - independent photojournalist, on January 17, 2022, in Tijuana, Baja California; José Luis Gamboa - director of the digital newspaper Inforegio, on January 10, 2022, in the Port of Veracruz, Veracruz; Alfredo Cardoso Echeverría - photojournalist and administrator of the Dos Costas de Guerrero Periodismo Plural page on Facebook, on October 28, 2021, in Acapulco, Guerrero; and Fredy López Arévalo - director of Revista Jovel and news anchor at XERA-Radio Uno, on October 28, 2021, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
WHEREAS, in Haiti, Maxihen Lazarre - a photojournalist with the Rois des infos digital media group, was murdered on February 23, 2022, in Port-au-Prince; and Wilguens Louissaint - a contributor to various digital media, and Amady John Wesley - a journalist with Radio Écoute FM, were killed on January 6, 2022 - while covering a clash between gangs in Port-au-Prince
WHEREAS, in Guatemala, Orlando Villanueva - director of the Noticias del Puerto website, was murdered on March 2022 in Puerto Barrios, Izabal
WHEREAS, in Honduras, Pablo Isabel Hernández Rivera - director and journalist of the community radio station Tenán 94.1 F.M, La Voz Indígena Lenca, was murdered on January 9, 2022, in San Marcos de Caiquín, Lempira
WHEREAS, in Colombia the statute of limitations expired on January 23 in the case of Marco Antonio Ayala - a journalist murdered in Cali in 2002; and that this year eight other murder cases are in danger of expiring: Walter López, Héctor Sandoval, Víctor Omar Acosta, Efraín Varela Noriega, Elizabeth Obando, Mario Prada Díaz, Dennis Segundo Sánchez Lora, and Gimbler Perdomo Zamora
WHEREAS, in Peru, the murders of Melissa Alfaro in 1991 and Hugo Bustíos in 1988 remain unpunished, and in the case of journalist Jaime Ayala Sulca, the trial against the accused began in March - 37 years after his forced disappearance in 1984
WHEREAS, in Brazil, the murderer of Paraguayan journalist Pablo Medina - a journalist with ABC Color and his assistant, Antonia Almada, was sentenced to 36 years in prison - a crime that occurred on October 16, 2014
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 curtail freedom of expression and of the press. These acts must be promptly investigated and severely punished."
THE IAPA MID-YEAR MEETING RESOLVES
To condemn the murders of Armando Linares, Juan Carlos Muñiz, Jorge Camero, Heber López Vásquez, Roberto Toledo, Lourdes Maldonado, Margarito Martínez, José Luis Gamboa, Alfredo Cardoso Echeverría, Fredy López Arévalo, in Mexico; Maxihen Lazarre, Wilguens Louissaint and Amady John Wesley, in Haiti; Orlando Villanueva, in Guatemala, and Pablo Isabel Hernández Rivera, in Honduras
To urge the governments of Mexico, Haiti, Guatemala and Honduras to uphold their responsibility to identify all those responsible for the murders and forced disappearances and to impose the corresponding punishments - so that they do not remain in impunity and without justice
To urge the government of Colombia to increase its efforts in order to prevent that crimes against the press go unpunished due to lack of progress in the criminal proceedings
To insist that Peruvian authorities seek justice in the murder cases of Melissa Alfaro and Hugo Bustíos - and to persevere so that the outcome of the trial in the case of Jaime Ayala allows the family to know the truth and that those responsible are punished
To welcome the conviction in Brazil of one of the material murderers of Paraguayan journalist Pablo Medina and his assistant, Antonia Almada
To emphasize that the murder and forced disappearance of journalists and media workers constitute an extreme form of censorship and that the impunity and lack of justice encourage other acts of violence - creating an inhibiting effect on the exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
