International delegations from the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) are to meet tomorrow with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón to discuss developments concerning press freedom and the need for journalists and news media to be protected from violence being unleashed by organized crime.

The IAPA delegation will be headed by the organization’s 1st vice president, Gonzalo Marroquín, of La Prensa, Guatemala City, Guatemala, and also include Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Chairman Robert Rivard, of the San Antonio Express-News, Texas; International Affairs Committee Chairman Jorge Canahuati, of La Prensa, San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Former IAPA president Andres García Gamboa, of Grupo SIPSE, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico; Impunity Committee Chairman Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, of El Universal, Mexico City, Mexico; Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Regional Vice Chairman for Mexico Juan Fernando Healy, of Periódicos Healy, Mexico; Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Vice Chairman Roberto Rock, of El Universal, Mexico City, Mexico; Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz and Press Freedom Director Ricardo Trotti.

Also taking part in the meeting with Calderón on Wednesday morning will be Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chávez Chávez. The day’s activities will conclude with a meeting with Interior Minister Francisco Blake. The IAPA and CPJ representatives will also get together on Thursday with federal legislators.

Also scheduled for Thursday (September 23) in Mexico City is a forum titled “Mexico Under Siege from Organized Crime,” to be held as the Casa Lamm Cultural Center. The day-long event, sponsored by the two organizations, will consist of two panel discussions on “The Mexican Press in the Face of Violence” and “The Government’s Reaction to Violence Against the Press,” in which IAPA and CPJ reports on and special investigations into the situation of the local press and journalists will be presented.