(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is an IAPA press release: IAPA MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF MEXICAN NEWSMAN’S MURDER Authorities must speed up the investigation of Benjamín Flores González’s case MIAMI, Florida (July 20, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has marked the third anniversary of the murder of Mexican journalist Benjamín Flores González, by publicly […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is an IAPA press release:
IAPA MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF MEXICAN NEWSMAN’S MURDER
Authorities must speed up the investigation of Benjamín Flores González’s case
MIAMI, Florida (July 20, 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has marked the third anniversary of the murder of Mexican journalist Benjamín Flores González, by publicly calling on the authorities in Mexico to act to bring the perpetrators to justice so as not to let them literally get away with murder. The call followed a renewed on-the-spot inquiry by the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit.
Flores González was murdered in San Luis Río Colorado in the northern Mexican state of Sonora near the U.S. border on July 15, 1997. Since his death, every 15 days, the newspaper of which he was the editor, La Prensa, has been publishing on its page 2 a reminder to the authorities that the crime continues to go unpunished. The piece is headlined “Who did it?” – a question that not only remains unanswered but has given rise to further questions.
In his articles, Flores González linked police officers and politicians with local drug traffickers and it is believed his murder may be connected with these allegations. But this has been officially ruled out and the investigation has been characterized by inconsistencies and lack of evidence.
Alberto Ibargüen, chairman of the IAPA’s Impunity Committee, said that “the Mexican authorities must speed up the investigation so that the guilty can be brought to trial and punished.”
He said that the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit is looking into the case in Mexico, as well as into another case in Brazil, the murder of journalist Edgar Lopes de Faria, and will be submitting its findings on July 28 to the hemisphere free-press organization’s Executive Committee. The findings will subsequently be put to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for further action.
Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, added that “the Rapid Response Unit’s objective and timely inquiries into the murders of 18 news men and women in the Western Hemisphere have enabled each case to be examined in depth to determine beyond doubt the motives for the crimes and any link with the victims’ work as journalists.”
Detailed reports on the IAPA’s most recent investigation’s are posted on the Association’s Web site, www.impunidad.com
