MIAMI, Florida (August 9, 2006)The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today roundly condemned an attack on the Kaieteur News newspaper in Guyana Tuesday in which four pressroom workers were killed.
In a letter to Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo the organization called for an immediate investigation to identify those responsible for the incident and bring them swiftly to justice. It urged action to ensure the safety of journalists, press workers and news media in general at this critical time, in the run-up to general elections on August 28.
In the attack on the evening of August 8 a group of unidentified masked men armed with automatic weapons burst into the newspaper plant and opened fire, killing four workers in the pressroom and seriously wounding another. The motive for the raid was unknown, but it was not ruled out that it was part of a wave of violence that has been rocking the South American nation in recent weeks.
During a visit to the newspaper plant President Jagdeo said although the motive for the attack remained unknown it clearly was a deliberate act to kill these men of the Kaieteur News.
Those killed were identified as Mark Maikoo, Chitram Persaud, Eon Wigman and Richard Stuart. The injured man, Shazim Mohamed, is hospitalized in critical condition.
The letter to the president, signed by Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPAs Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, declared, If this incident goes unpunished, that will produce a climate of uncertainty and self-censorship that is contrary to freedom of the press and democracy in your country.
Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, added, We are certain that you, as a signatory of the Declaration of Chapultepec, whose Article 4 states that violent acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly, will respond with appropriate action to provide the necessary guarantees for journalists, press workers and the media in general to work freely at this critical time in your country.
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