IAPA mission in Peru to look into crimes against journalists

MIAMI, Florida (May 16, 2007)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the Peruvian Press Council (CPP) today begin a joint two-day mission in Peru to discuss with officials in Lima and Pucallpa a number of journalists murders in that country.

During the mission, Peru’s President Alan García will sign the IAPA-sponsored Declaration of Chapultepec, a 10-point document containing principles for press freedom and freedom of expression. Former Presidents Alejandro Toledo and Valentín Paniagua signed the Declaration during their terms in office in 2002 and 2001, respectively. García previously signed the Declaration’s principles as a presidential candidate in 2001.

The mission today travels to the city of Pucallpa, some 500 miles northeast of Lima, where Alberto Rivera Fernández of the local radio station Radio Frecuencia Oriental was murdered on April 21, 2004. Rivera hosted the program “Transparencia” (Transparency) and often criticized the actions of local government officials on air.

In Pucallpa, capital of the Ucayali region, IAPA and CPP delegates will meet with representatives of the Journalists Colegio of Peru, Supreme Court justices, local district attorneys and the lawyer for the Rivera family. In the afternoon they will hold a press conference at the Ucayali Journalists Colegio offices.

For tomorrow (Thursday, May 17), in addition to the signing of the Declaration of Chapultepec, meetings have been scheduled with the head of the Peruvian Judiciary, Francisco Távara Córdova, Attorney General Adelaida Bolívar Arteaga, Council of Ministers Chairman Jorge del Castillo, and news media editors and journalists. Winding up the mission in Peru will be a press conference at the headquarters of the Peruvian Press Council in Lima.

During the meetings the delegates of the two organizations will consult with officials on the murders of journalists in Peru, among them those of Antonio de la Torre Echeandía, Miguel Pérez Julca, Todd Smith and Jaime Ayala.

Pérez Tulca, of Radio Exitos radio station, was killed on March 17, 2007; De la Torre Echeandía, of Radio Orbita, on February 14, 2004, and Smith, correspondent in Peru of the Tampa Tribune of Tampa, Florida, on November 18, 1989. Ayala, of the newspaper La República, disappeared on August 2, 1984.

The IAPA will be represented by Roberto Rock, El Universal, Mexico; Milton Coleman, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.; Clemente Vivanco, La Hora, Ecuador, and Press Freedom Director Ricardo Trotti. Also joining the delegation will be Alejandro Miró Quesada,  El Comercio, Lima, a former IAPA president. Taking part for the CPP are its president, Gustavo Mohme Seminario, La República, Lima, and regional vice chairman for Peru of the IAPA’s  Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, and Peruvian Press Council Director Kela León.

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