62nd
General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 to October 3, 2006
Camino Real Hotel
Reports and Resolutions
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IMPUNITY-MEXICO
I
Resolution of the Midyear Meeting
Quito, Ecuador
WHEREAS
that in 2006, threats, pressures on and harassment of Mexican journalists have
spread and increased, mainly in those states in which organized crime has established
its principal operations: Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California. Chihuahua,
Coahuila, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca y Veracruz; and that there exist
cases of reporters and editors who prefer not to make public accusations out
of fear
WHEREAS
that in general the state of Tamaulipas has been accumulating the greatest number
of threats against journalists, and that none of the crimes committed between
2004 and 2005 have been resolved
WHEREAS
that on the night of February 6, two hooded men, carrying heavy firearms, entered
the newsroom of El Mañana of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and shot off several
rounds of gunfire, resulting in serious injury to reporter Jaime Orozco Tey,
who remains hospitalized, and despite the fact that Mexican Attorney General
Daniel Cabeza de Vaca asserted days later that he had identified the authors
of the attack, until now no one has been arrested or named publicly as responsible
for the crime
WHEREAS
that these attacks throughout the country have been carried out by members of
organized crime and municipal, state, and federal authorities, who use written
messages, verbal threats, firearms, burning of automobiles, deprivation of liberty
for hours at a time, beatings and even torture against journalists
WHEREAS
that the levels of impunity regarding attacks on journalists are very high,
and that authorities have not managed to catch those responsible and obtain
definitive jail sentences in any of the crimes against journalists in the past
20 years
WHEREAS
that the Mexican authorities have expressed their concern and interest in carrying
out legal reforms that would facilitate the pursuit of those responsible for
attacks against journalists, but that these measures continue to be held up
in the national congress without being analyzed or discussed
WHEREAS
that in February 16, the Mexican government created the Special Prosecutor´s
Office in Charge of Crimes Against Journalists, and that six days later, on
February 22, Dr. David Manuel Vega Vera was named director of the office, but
that he will not be responsible for the investigation of attacks on journalists
involving organized crime
WHEREAS
that Article 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes: “Freedom
of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping,
intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities,
violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated
promptly and punished harshly.”
THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE
IAPA RESOLVES
to elevate its demand to
the Mexican State (the three branches of government) to fulfill its obligation
to guarantee free exercise of journalism, as a fundamental right consecrated
in the Political Constitution of Mexico and in the international agreements
that Mexico has ratified
to demand that federal and
state authorities investigate in depth and provide concrete results about the
threats, intimidation, harassments, attacks and murders of journalists
to demand immediate and
efficient attention and resolution to the what is happening in the state of
Tamaulipas, where it is imperative that security measures be strengthened so
that journalists are not subjected to threats and attacks by drug-traffickers
to exhort the Mexican Attorney
General´s office to arrest and bring to justice those responsible, both
material and intellectual authors, for the attack on the newspaper El Mañana
in Nuevo Laredo
to appeal to the federal
executive and legislative branches to fulfill the offers made to the IAPA to
modify legislation, to promote the necessary consensus to reform the Federal
Criminal Code and the Federal Criminal Procedures and other laws so that crimes
committed against journalists, when these are provoked by the exercise of their
, are investigated by the Mexican Attorney General´s office, and that
these investigations shall not be prescribed and have aggravating circumstances
to ask the Mexican government
to grant the necessary economic, human and technical resources to the new Special
Prosecutor in Charge of Crimes Against Journalists, so that he can develop his
work in an efficient, expeditious and energetic manner
to ask the Mexican government
to grant legal faculties to the Special Prosecutor in Charge of Crimes Against
Journalists to investigate attacks on journalists in which members of organized
crime are involved
to ask the federal and state
governments to report in a transparent, timely and permanent manner about their
advances in investigations of crimes against journalists.
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