WHEREAS since the 2024 Mid-Year Meeting, four journalists have been murdered for apparent reasons related to their professional work (three in Mexico and one in Colombia, respectively), and one journalist is missing in Nicaragua
WHEREAS in Colombia, Jaime Vásquez, a columnist, blogger, and social media producer who covered and investigated issues of local interest in the city of Cúcuta, Norte de Santander department, was murdered on April 14 and had been under police protection since 2022 due to threats, but at the time of the murder he was without bodyguards
WHEREAS the following were murdered in Mexico: Alejandro Martínez Noguez, on August 4, in Celaya, Guanajuato state, while two agents guarding him were wounded; he was administrator of the news page "El Hijo del Llanero Solititito," on Facebook, and had had police protection since 2022 following an attack; Víctor Alfonso Culebro Morales, disappeared on June 27 and his body was found on June 28 on the side of a road in the south of the state of Chiapas; he was director and editor of the portal Realidades and contributor to Radio Fórmula, in Chiapas; Roberto Carlos Figueroa Bustos, kidnapped on April 26 and found dead later that day, in Huitzilac, state of Morelos; he was the director and host of the digital media "Acá en El Show."
WHEREAS independent journalist and feminist activist Fabiola Tercero has been missing in Nicaragua since July 12, following a raid on her home
WHEREAS in addition to the constant insecurity in which journalists carry out their work, there is little governmental protection and impunity for the aggressors, which encourages violence
WHEREAS that Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, unjust imprisonment of journalists, material destruction of the media, the violence of any kind and impunity for aggressors severely restrict freedom of expression and of the press" and that "these acts should be promptly investigated and severely punished".
THE 80TH IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
To condemn the murders of Jaime Vásquez in Colombia and those of Alejandro Martínez Noguez, Víctor Alfonso Culebro Morales, and Roberto Carlos Figueroa Bustos in Mexico
Demand that the Nicaraguan government respond to the whereabouts of Fabiola Tercero following the police raid on her residence
Urge the governments of Colombia and Mexico to comply with their responsibility to identify the material and intellectual perpetrators of the murders, that the motives for the crimes are known, and that the corresponding sanctions are applied so that these crimes do not remain in impunity
Urge Colombia and Mexico to strengthen the protection mechanisms and make all the necessary resources available to fulfill the mission for which they were created.
