On Jan. 21, 60 Colombian governors and mayors will sign the Inter American Press Association's (IAPA) Declaration of Chapultepec, according to a press release from the association.
Headed by IAPA President Jaime Mantilla, a special delegation will travel to Bogotá, the Colombian capital, so the officials can add their signatures to the agreement, added the statement. The event will take place at the headquarters of the newspaper El Tiempo. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón will attend the event along with representatives from the National Association of Colombian Newspapers, Andiarios and university students.
President Santos already signed the declaration in November 2011 but the statement said the signatures of "Colombian governors and mayors will underscore the commitment of Colombian institutions to the document, which is fundamental for freedom of expression in the Americas."
The Declaration of Chapultepec was adopted in 1994 at the Hemispheric Conference on Freedom of Expression organized by IAPA at the Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Mexico.
Academics, constitutional lawyers, political leaders, writers and newspaper editors across the Americas met to draft a document outlining 10 principles for the defense of press freedom that "enables societies to resolve their conflicts, promote their well-being and protect their liberty."
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
