UNESCO chief condemns killings of Mexican and Brazilian journalists

[News_Editor]

UNESCO chief condemns killings of Mexican and Brazilian journalists

2011-07-30 00:10:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) on Friday condemned the murders of journalists in Mexico and Brazil, two Latin American countries where reporters have already been killed this year.

Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz a veteran crime and security reporter security for the Veracruz, Mexico newspaper Notiver, had been reported missing since last Saturday and was found dead three days later.

"I condemn the killing of Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, the latest case in an increasing global trend of women journalists being targeted, which I am deeply concerned about," Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said.

Previously, two other Notiver journalists were killed this year. Columnist Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco was murdered along with his wife and their son – Notiver crime photographer Misael López Solana – in their home on June 20. Ordaz de la Cruz becomes the third Notiver journalist to be killed this year.

"It is essential that the authorities investigate the alarming number of attacks on reporters in Veracruz and bring their culprits to justice," she added. According to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Article 19, five journalists have been murdered in Mexico this year, four of them in the state of Veracruz.

In a separate incident, Auro Ida, 53, a former press secretary of the Government of the city of Cuiabá, was shot dead in his car last Friday by an unidentified man. He was also a founder of the news site Midia News, and wrote an opinion column for another news website, Olhar Direto.

"The use of violence to stop journalists from exercising their basic human right of freedom of expression is unacceptable," Bokova said. "It is essential that the authorities bring the killers of Auro Ida to justice"

According to UNESCO, which defends and promotes press freedom, Ida is said to have been investigating local political corruption at the time of his killing. He is also said to have spoken of having received threats. Ida is the fourth journalist killed in Brazil this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Bokova demanded the killers of both Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz in Mexico and Auro Ida in Brazil be brought to justice, and called for strong measures to curb violence against journalists.

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