Post date: Aug 11, 2012 11:35:52 AM
TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (AUGUST 10, 2012) (REUTERS) - Members of the Inter-American Press Society met with representatives from across Latin America and the United Nations on Friday (August 10) to discuss spiralling violence against the media that has seen dozens of journalists killed in the drug-ravaged region in recent years.
Representatives from across Latin America converge on Honduras to exchange strategies on reducing violent attacks on media in the region's drug-ravaged countries.
At the launch of a two-day conference called "Security, Protection, Solidarity for the Freedom of Expression", officials are looking to build regional consensus for political and judicial reform to arrest the growing tide of attacks on reporters and break the cycle of impunity in journalist murders.
In the throes of a brutal drugs war, Mexico has seen more than 80 journalists murdered since 2000, according to the country's National Human Rights Commission.
Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression in Mexico, Laura Borbolla, said Mexican journalists face many wide-ranging threats.
"The escalation of violence has caused the deprivation of freedom of expression across the gamut-- from threats, robbery, injuries, abuse of authority, theft of equipment of journalists, up to the disappearance and murder of some journalists," she said.
Also in attendance were officials from Colombia. The South American country is lauded by many as a model example for the drug-ravaged region with Colombian government officials declaring its crackdown on leftist guerilla groups and trafficking activities has seen security improve.
Colombian National Protection Unit Director Andres Villamizar told the conference Latin American states must work to safeguard human rights in order to reverse the tide of media violence.
"What we have done in Colombia since 1999 is create a special protection programme for defenders of human rights, union leaders and other sectors of the population that gradually covered journalists. The truth is that the result has been very successful because far from having dozens of journalists killed, today the figure is close to zero," he said.
As Mexico's notorious cartels expand across the border to Central America, reporters in the region are increasingly caught in the frontline of the inter-state drug trafficking activities.
In Honduras, over 20 journalists have become victims of violence since 2010, according to the Committee for Free Expression.
With rampant corruption, widespread poverty and limited defence budgets, Central America is an easy target for Latin America's billion-dollar drug gangs with cartels using the area a transit route for cocaine moving from South America to Mexico and the United States.