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IAPA satisfied with recognition by Guatemala of its responsibility in murder of journalist. IAPA highlights that it is establishing important international precedent in the fight to solve other cases of unpunished crimes against journalists in the region
Miami (July 7, 2004).- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed its
satisfaction with the decision of Guatemalan President Oscar Berger and his administration
in admitting to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Guatemala’s responsibility
in the murder of journalist and politician Jorge Carpio Nicolle, who was killed
in 1993.
Alberto Ibargüen, chairman of the Committee Against Impunity, said “this
decision shows respect for human rights and freedom of expression for the Guatemalan
people; and mainly for Carpio’s relatives that have brought this case
to international authorities always relying on IAPA’s support.”
Carpio Nicolle, editor of El Gráfico newspaper, was murdered on July
3, 1993 when he was traveling with a delegation on the pre-election campaign
in the interior of Guatemala with ambitions of becoming president of his country.
Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald Publishing Company, added “for
us, the gesture of the Government of Guatemala represents a double satisfaction,
since the case of Carpio Nicolle, as well as the disappearance of journalist
Irma Flaquer, for which the government also accepted responsibility in 2000,
are two of the six investigations originally conducted by the IAPA at the beginning
of the Unpunished Crimes Against Journalists Project in 1994.
Ibargüen stressed, “the example of Guatemala represents a valuable
precedent in the fight for other crimes against journalists still unpunished
and an example to be adopted by other governments in the region.” He also
reminded that the IAPA is reviewing, along with Mexican state and federal officials,
the cases of murdered journalists Héctor Félix Miranda in 1988
and Víctor Manuel Oropeza in 1991.
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