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february 23, 2009
Miami, Florida, February 24, 2009
H.E.
Fernando Lugo
President of Paraguay
Asunción, Paraguay
Mr. President,
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) is determined to put an end to the impunity surrounding crimes against journalists in the Americas, a task in which it has wide support among the international community. In many cases the police investigations and legal proceedings are inexplicably stalled.
That is why we take the liberty of calling your attention to the death of Mr. Santiago Leguizamón Zaván, a Paraguayan journalist
In his morning radio program “Puertas Abiertas” (Open Doors) Leguizamón criticized the corruption prevailing on the Paraguay-Brazil border and exposed smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering activities in that region. Twenty-one gunshots silenced him on April 26, 1991, in Pedro Juan Caballero, Amambay province. The homicide investigation has suffered a series of setbacks. Judges and prosecutors have been threatened. Witnesses and evidence have disappeared. Now 18 years later the crime continues to go unpunished.
We request your good offices, Mr. President, in that you take action to have the investigation put back on track so that this murder may be solved and the guilty brought to justice and punished, in order for this death not to become just another statistic on the list of unsolved murders in the Americas.
Sincerely,
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