MEXICO

WHEREAS

the newspaper El Imparcial and its subsidiaries published an in-depth report in July 2001 implicating Gen. Francisco Arellano Noblecía, who is currently chief of the Federal Prison Police, in the October 1975 killings of seven farmers in San Ignacio Río Muerto, Sonora

WHEREAS

in retaliation Gen. Arellano Noblecía published in a Mexico City newspaper copies of alleged checks for several million pesos and dollars allegedly given to the publisher of El Imparcial by a drug trafficker in 1981 and 1983

WHEREAS

to clear up this matter, the publisher filed a criminal complaint for falsification of documents, defamation and making false criminal accusations with the Federal Attorney General's Office, and a complaint of freedom of speech violations with the National Human Rights Commission

WHEREAS

Gen. Arellano Noblecía accused El Imparcial and its subsidiaries of defamation and making false criminal accusations in November 2001 for its series of reports on the San Ignacio Río Muerto massacre

WHEREAS

the criminal complaint filed by El Imparcial has languished for six months, and there is evidence that Gen. Arellano Noblecía used human and financial resources of the Public Safety Ministry for his campaign against these newspapers

WHEREAS

the building and staff of the daily newspaper Vanguardia of Saltillo were attacked by a group of people identified as being from the Mexican Social Security Institute who caused damage, delayed production of the newspaper and tried to take business documents

WHEREAS

Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "[f]reedom 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; [s]uch acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly"

THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES

to ask the Federal Attorney General's Office to take immediate action to expedite the handling of the criminal complaint filed by El Imparcial, so the origin of the alleged checks can be established

to ask the Interior Ministry and Public Safety Ministry to ensure that Gen. Arellano Noblecía uses none of their human and financial resources in his defense or accusations against El Imparcial

to request that the criminal complaint against the publisher not be used as a tool to intimidate or threaten the free exercise of press freedom in Mexico.

to protest to the authorities of Saltillo and Social Security for the outrage against Vanguardia, which is an attack on press freedom

to demand that the incident be investigated and those responsible be put on trial.

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Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association. All rights reserved.

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58th IAPA General Assembly
JW Marriott Hotel & Stellaris Casino
Lima, Peru
October 26-29, 2002