MIAMI, Florida (April 23, 2004)—In a new bid to raise awareness of the need
to solve the so far unpunished murders of journalists in the Americas, the Inter
American Press Association (IAPA) today asked Brazilian president Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, for his help in pursuing the investigation into the death of Rolando
Santana de Araujo, in 1997 in Eunápolis, Bahía.
The IAPA is waging a hemisphere-wide campaign titled “Let’s Put
an End to Impunity” to ensure that the murders of more than 200 journalists
in the last 15 years do not continue to go unpunished. Advertisements alluding
to the crimes are being published in more than a hundred newspapers in North,
South and Central America and the Caribbean. They call on readers to go to the
Association’s special Web site, www.impunidad.com, to add their signatures
to an open letter to governments calling for action.
Rolando Santana de Araújo was radio reporter. He was shot dead after
exposing on his radio program alleged wrongdoing in the local government and
police department of Eurápolis in Bahia. Legal proceedings are stalled.
The guilty have gone unpunished for seven years.
The IAPA’s interactive campaign, which is funded by the John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation, also includes investigative reporting activities, training
for reporters working in danger zones and a monitoring of the state of press
freedom in the Americas.
