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 62nd General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 – October 3, 2006
WHEREAS
in May 2004 representatives of the state of Baja California and the Mexican
government signed an agreement with the Inter American Press Association, under
the auspices of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, to set up a task
force to review the case file on the April 1988 murder of Héctor Félix
Miranda
WHEREAS
Francisco Ortiz Franco, publisher of the weekly Zeta (Baja California) was murdered
in June 2004 and the PGR has not arrested anyone for the crime and on August
16 U.S. authorities detained Arturo Villarreal Heredia, alias “El Nalgón,”
considered one of the murderers and who will be charged with the crime and then
his extradition will be requested
WHEREAS
three task force meetings have been held, and the Attorney General’s Office
of Baja California was nearly six months late in submitting via the Foreign
Ministry its technical and legal comments on the records of the investigation
into the death of Héctor Félix Miranda and the cover-up of an
accessory to the murder, where it concluded that the statute of limitations
has expired on all crimes, that the officials involved in the investigation
are relieved of any responsibility, and that the work on the case was “adequate”
WHEREAS
the IAPA reviewed this document, submitted its comments expressing its dissatisfaction,
and has yet to receive a response from the Mexican authorities
WHEREAS
when the IAPA and representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Attorney General’s
Office of Chihuahua met in February 2005 to review the case file on the July
1991 murder of Víctor Manuel Oropeza, it became clear that the authorities
at the time did not conduct a thorough investigation, evidence was lost, no
one looked into the possibility that the murder was related to the victim’s
profession, and other lines of the investigation were not taken to conclusion
WHEREAS
the Attorney General’s Office has since reopened the case and is pursuing
all angles of the investigation, though the IAPA is currently unaware of any
results of this latest work
WHEREAS
Article 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: “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 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE IAPA RESOLVES
to demand that the Attorney
General’s Office of the state of Baja California conduct an earnest, thorough,
impartial, and effective investigation into anyone who may have been involved
in the murder of journalist Héctor Félix Miranda, as well as any
officials who may have neglected their duties in enforcing the law and administering
justice, and that this crime, like others of this type, have no statute of limitations
to demand that the PGR arrest
all those responsible for the homicide of journalist Francisco Ortiz Franco
and pursue promptly and forcefully the extradition to Mexico of Arturo Villarreal
Heredia, alias “El Nalgón,” considered one of the main suspects
to demand that the Attorney
General’s Office of the state of Baja California not invoke the statute
of limitations in the case of Héctor Félix Miranda, that it live
up to the international agreements signed by Mexico, and that it get to the
bottom of the murder in order that it not go unpunished
to encourage the efforts
of the Attorney General’s Office of the state of Chihuahua to solve the
murder of journalist Víctor Manuel Oropeza, and to encourage those conducting
the investigation so that enough progress is made by the next task force meeting
for those responsible, including any masterminds behind the murder, to be identified,
arrested, and brought to justice
to reiterate its request
that the Federal Office of the Attorney General support and bolster the extradition
proceedings initiated by the authorities in Chihuahua, so that Samuel de la
Rosa Reyes, one of the suspects in the murder, may be found and extradited from
the United States.
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