Miami, April 2 (EFE).- The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) claimed this Tuesday that the disappearance of journalist Alfredo Jiménez Mota 19 years ago continue to be investigated and to identify and punish those responsible.
Within the framework of his campaign ‘Voices that demand justice’, the IAPA, based in Miami (Florida), He recalled the circumstances of Jiménez’s disappearance 19 years ago today and highlighted “the value of his brave task.”
Jiménez Mota, whose whereabouts have been unknown since Saturday, April 2, 2005, when he was 25 years old, dedicated his promising professional career to investigating issues related to organized crime and public security for the newspaper El Imparcial, in the city of Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora, the IAPA said in a statement.
According to an investigation by the IAPA, entrusted to the journalist María Idalia Gómez in 2009, Mexican authorities publicly acknowledged at the time that The journalist’s disappearance was linked to his reporting on drug trafficking at the state level.
After the disappearance of Jiménez Mota and the threats received by two other of his colleagues, El Imparcial decided to interrupt investigations into matters related to drug trafficking, considering that the conditions did not exist to guarantee the safety of its reporters.
In May 2009, the IAPA raised the journalistic investigation of the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The president of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, reiterated today the organization’s demand to “continue fighting impunity in cases of murders against journalists.”
Jornet also urged the candidates for the Presidency of Mexico to highlight in their political agenda “the essential role of journalism in a democracy, to promote the necessary actions to stop violence against the press and to guarantee the safety of journalists during the exercise of their duties.” his work”.
In December 2021, in a public event and in the presence of Jiménez Mota’s family, the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration of the Ministry of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas, apologized because the State “could not guarantee or protect the integrity” of the missing journalist.
A Friendly Settlement Agreement was then signed, by which the State undertook to implement measures of satisfaction, rehabilitation, non-repetition and compensation.
Although Jiménez’s relatives considered it positive that the Government resumed the investigation into Alfredo’s disappearance, they were skeptical that progress would be made in knowing his whereabouts.
The agreement, signed within the framework of the case processed before the IACHR, included, among other measures, reparation actions related to the investigation and effective search consisting of “developing and implementing a Search Plan to find the whereabouts of Alfredo Jiménez Mota”; the inauguration of “Alfredo Jiménez Mota” street in Empalme, Sonora, where the family resides; and financial compensation for victims.
The IAPA campaign ‘Voices that demand justice’ has the objective of persevering in the demand for justice and rescuing the memory of journalists murdered in Latin America during the last decades, through the publication once a month of a statement on an emblematic case documented by the organization.