62nd
General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 to October 3, 2006
Camino Real Hotel
Reports and Resolutions
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IMPUNITY-MEXICO
II
Resolution of the 62nd General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 – October 3, 2006
WHEREAS
in July of 1997, Benjamín
Flores González, editor of La Prensa of San Luis Río Colorado
(Sonora) was murdered and after nine years three arrest warrants have not been
enforced and the alleged mastermind, Gabriel González Gutiérrez,
who was tried just five months ago, may be acquitted because of the weakness
of the charges which in previous years has made it possible for others to be
released
WHEREAS
the two people convicted
for the murder of journalist Philip True, correspondent of The San Antonio Express-News
in Mexico in 1998 have not been apprehended
WHEREAS
José Ramírez
Puente, journalist of Radio Net of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, was murdered in
April 2000 and the federal attorney general’s office (PGR) has not arrested
those responsible and the new special prosecutor’s office to investigate
crimes against journalists of the PGR has not reviewed the case
WHEREAS
José Luis Ortega Mata, editor of Seminario de Ojinaga, Chihuahua, was
murdered in February, 2001 and the state attorney general’s office has
shelved the case without arresting any of those responsible in the past five
years
WHEREAS
photographer Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo was murdered on March 9, 2006 in the
city of La Piedad, Michoacán, and the investigation by the state prosecutor’s
office have had not results so far
WHEREAS
Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial page editor of El Mañana
of Nuevo Laredo (Tamaulipas) was murdered in March 2004 and there are still
questions about the motive given the inconsistency and contradictions in the
file put together by the Tamaulipas state prosecutor’s office
WHEREAS
columnist Leodegario Aguilera Lucas was kidnapped in May of 2004 in the city
of Acapulco (Guerrero) and the investigation by the state prosecutor’s
office is bogged down
WHEREAS
journalist Francisco Arratia Saldierna was murdered in Matamoros, Tamaulipas,
in August of 2004 and so far only one of the accomplices has been detained and
the rest are at large and the state prosecutor’s office has shown no progress
in the investigation
WHEREAS
Gregorio Rodríguez Hernández, a photographer for the daily El
Debate of Mazatlán was murdered in November of 2004 in Escuinapa, Sinaloa,
and so far seven people have been detained, two of whom may be acquitted because
they did not participate in the crime, one of the most important responsible
parties, the former police chief of Escuinapa, Abel Enríquez Zavala won
a court decision and may be acquitted because of a faulty case file and the
state prosecutor’s office still has to request the arrest of another suspect
WHEREAS
Alfredo Jiménez Mota, a reporter for the newspaper El Imparcial of Sonora,
disappeared 17 months ago, on April 2, 2005, and the PGR has not yet provided
any results and the prosecutor assigned to the case is not in his office in
Hermosillo
WHEREAS
Guadalupe García Escamilla, host of the call-in program “Punto
Rojo” of radio station XHNOE-91 of Nuevo Laredo (Tamaulipas) was murdered
in April 2005 and the PGR still has not named the responsible parties nor has
it reported any progress in the investigations abut the motive
WHEREAS
Raúl Gibb Guerrero, editor of the newspaper La Opinión of Poza
Rica, Veracruz, was murdered in April of 2005 and no one has been arrested and
the motive is not known
WHEREAS
radio announcer Benjamín Fernández González survived an
attack in Loma Bonita, Oaxaca, on November 6, 2005, and the Oaxaca prosecutor’s
office has not charged or detained anyone
WHEREAS
Principle 4 of the
Declaration of Chapultepec says “Freedom of expression and of the press
are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, 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 Sonora
state prosecutor’s office review the file on the homicide of Benjamín
Flores González, editor of La Prensa of San Luis Río Colorado,
locate all those responsible and obtain a conviction of Gabriel González
Gutiérrez and reiterate to the special prosecutor’s office to investigate
crimes against journalists of the PGR that it review and take on the case
to strongly request that
the Mexican government enforce the arrest warrants against the two murderers
of journalist Philip True
to exhort for the second
time that the PGR special prosecutor’s office to investigate crimes against
journalists dig deeper into the file on the homicide of journalist José
Ramírez Puente and put all the responsible parties on trial
to remind the Chihuahua
state prosecutor’s office once again that it has not solved the homicide
of journalist José Luis Ortega Mata and demand that it detain those responsible
and urge the PGR special prosecutor’s office to investigate crimes against
journalists to accept the case
to demand that the Michoacán
state prosecutor’s office solve the homicide of photographer and editor
Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo, put those responsible on trial and make a public
report on the motives for the crime, and urge the PGR special prosecutor’s
office to investigate crimes against journalists to review the case and determine
if there are reasons to transfer it to federal jurisdiction
to reiterate to the Tamaulipas
state prosecutor’s office that it intensify the investigation of the homicide
of Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial page editor of El Mañana
of Nuevo Laredo and make a clear and convincing public report about the results
and to demand that the PGR special prosecutor’s office to investigate
crimes against journalists accept the case given the inconsistency and contradictions
in the investigations
to reiterate to the Guerrero
state prosecutor’s office that it conclude the investigation of the disappearance
of journalist Leodegario Aguilera Lucas, find him, try those responsible and
make a report on the reasons for his disappearance
to ask the Tamaulipas prosecutor’s
office to transfer jurisdiction to the PGR so that the investigation of the
homicide of Francisco Arratia Saldierna can move forward and all those responsible
can be put on trial and to ask the PGR to take over the file completely because
of the lack of confidence in state authorities and the slowness of the results
to urge the Sinaloa state
prosecutor’s office to strengthen the investigation of the crime against
photographer Gregorio Rodríguez Hernández so that all those involved
will be arrested and none of the guilty parties be released
to urge the PGR to provide
concrete and clear results about the disappearance of Alfredo Jiménez
Mota and put the responsible parties on trial
to demand that the PGR solve
the homicide of reporter Guadalupe García Escamilla, detain those responsible,
put them on trial and make a report about the motives of the murder
to demand that the PGR detain
those responsible for the crime against Raúl Gibb Guerrero, editor of
the newspaper La Opinión of Poza Rica, and clearly report on the motive
of the crime
to insist that the special
prosecutor’s office to investigate crimes against journalists take over
the case of the attack on journalist Benjamín Fernández González
and detain those responsible.
 questions
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