61ª Asamblea General The Westin Hotel Indianápolis, Indiana 7 al 11 de octubre de 2005

Mexico

WHEREAS

over ten months ago the state government of Oaxaca allowed a group of people to take over the supply warehouses of the newspaper Noticias of Oaxaca, and these people have yet to vacate the premises or turn the facilities back over to the newspaper

the state government subsquently started to disrupt the work of the newspaper — it stopped placing public announcements in the paper, pressured advertisers to withdraw their business, persecuted street vendors, and allowed and possibly encouraged a union affiliated with the CROC to call a strike against the newspaper, a strike that has not been settled by government officials even though it has been proven that it is not supported by most workers at Noticias

in response to a request from the IAPA, both the president of Mexico and the state governor agreed to step in and settle the strike and called the conflicting parties to negotiations; however, these negotiations were suspended after one session and have not been resumed in the two months since; while the newspaper is still on strike, it is being printed outside the state and circulates on a daily basis with some difficulties

to condemn the actions by the government and the union that have disrupted the work of the newspaper Noticias of Oaxaca by seizing its supply warehouses and interfering with its production and circulation, which represents a violation of the newspaper’s and the public’s right to report and receive news as well as freedom of the press

to demand that the president of Mexico and the governor of Oaxaca order the resumption of the negotiations, which they themseslves had called to settle the strike but were inexplicably suspended

to request that the state authorities of Oaxaca compensate Noticias for its financial losses caused by the takeover of its warehouses, the labor strike and the delayed settlement thereof, and the campaign of disruption against its staff and distributors