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OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DEPLORES ASSASSINATION OF JOURNALIST IN MEXICO

Washington, DC, September 2, 2004.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States deplores the assassination of Mexican journalist Francisco Arratia Saldierna. The Office of the Special Rapporteur urges the Mexican authorities to take all the necessary measures to guarantee that this crime does not go unpunished and to reinforce to the maximum the mechanisms to grant effective protection to all journalists that receive threats for performing their work of informing the public, which is essential for democracy and the rule of law.

The murder of journalists is the most brutal means of restricting freedom of expression. As stated in Principle 9 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, “The murder… of and/or threats to social communicators violate the fundamental rights of individuals.” The American Convention on Human Rights, to which Mexico is a party, establishes that states have the duty to prevent, investigate, and sanction any violation of the human rights recognized in the Convention.

According to the information received, Arratia Saldierna was murdered on August 31 in the city of Matamoros, close to the border with the United States of America. The journalist wrote for the newspapers El Imparcial and El Regional, in Matamoros, and Mercurio and El Cinco, in Ciudad Victoria, all in the state of Tamaulipas. Arratia Saldierna wrote articles related to government corruption, organized crime and education.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur is concerned about this most recent murder in the interior of the Mexican State. It follows the murders earlier this year of journalists Roberto Mora García and Francisco J. Ortiz, which occurred on March 19 in the city of Nuevo Laredo, and on June 22 in the city of Tijuana, respectively. The Office of the Special Rapporteur views positively the fact that these types of acts have been condemned from the highest governmental offices and that efforts for their complete investigation have been announced. The Office urges the continuation of these initiatives and recommends that both national and local authorities seek mechanisms of prevention so that similar acts do not occur in the future. Finally, the Office urges the competent authorities to investigate the murders that have occurred in Mexico until their ultimate resolution, and recalls the commitment made by the Heads of State and Government at the Third Summit of the Americas, whereby the governments ensured “that journalists and opinion leaders shall be free to investigate and publish without fear of reprisals. . . .”

Reference: PREN/109