MIAMI, Florida (September 4, 2002)—The Inter American Press Association
(IAPA) stressed “the need for the murder of journalists, being a crime aimed
at curtailing the basic rights and freedoms of society, to be regarded as a federal
offense” in a letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox following a conference
titled Drug Trafficking: Journalists At Risk held last week in the northern Mexican
city of Tijuana.
The note was signed jointly by IAPA President Robert J. Cox, assistant editor
of The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina; the chairman of the organization’s
Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, editor of
the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, news magazine Ahora, and IAPA 1st Vice
President Andrés García Gamboa, of the daily Novedades de Quintana
Roo, Cancún, Mexico. Adding their signatures were Mexican journalists
Jesús Blancornelas, editor of the weekly Zeta, Tijuana; Juan F. Ealy
Ortiz, of El Universal, Mexico City, and regional vice chairman for Mexico of
the IAPA Press Freedom Committee, and José Santiago Healy, of the Healy
newspaper group and a member of the IAPA Board of Directors.
Following is the full text of the letter:
“In three days of work during a conference held in Tijuana with the objective
of examining the risks that drug trafficking poses for newsgathering and freedom
of expression, we have confirmed the continuance in Mexico of a situation that
contributes to impunity in the case of the murder of journalists.
“At the risk of repeating ourselves, but believing that the seriousness
of the situation requires it, the Inter American Press Association, on behalf
of the participants in this conference and its more than 1,300 newspaper members,
wishes to renew a representation that we have been making since 1997 to the
Mexican Presidency, and which you personally reiterated in January 2001, on
the need for the murder of journalists, being a crime designed to curtail basic
rights and freedoms of society, to be considered as a crime punishable under
federal jurisdiction.
“This initiative of the IAPA, resulting from the Associaiton’s
General Assemblies, is based, Mr. President, on two incontrovertible facts.
The first has to do with inalienable principles of humankind, such as free speech
and the right to know, attacks upon which are more grave and whose universality
is more significant than other crimes, such as arms and drug trafficking, that
have rightly been removed from the limited state jurisdiction. The second fact,
as experience shows us, is that many of the murders of journalists involve state
authorities – whether by omission, complicity or in some cases direct
participation – and therefore it is ridiculous for the same officials
to be responsible for investigating and trying such cases. This is one of the
principal explanations for why impunity exists.
“We are aware, Mr. President, that you share this vision with the IAPA
and at the same time no one can doubt that the solution to this problem has
to begin with the transfer of jurisdiction, therefore there can be no explanation
or excuse for any further delay in bringing about this jurisdictional change
by legal means.
“We trust that you will use your good offices to instigate the necessary
mechanisms to bring about, in the shortest time possible time, this important
step to safeguard the most dearly-held people’s rights and to combat drug
trafficking and organized crime.
“Confident of this and certain that our request will soon become reality,
we remain,
“Yours sincerely,
“(signed)”
FUENTE: nota.texto7
