Her Excellency Dilma Rousseff
President of Brazil
Brasilia, Brazil
11 February 2014
Your Excellency,
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 12 countries, to express our grave concern at the death of journalist Santiago Andrade.
According to reports, Mr Andrade, a cameraman for TV Bandeirantes, was injured on 6 February while covering clashes between protesters and police in Rio de Janeiro over increased public transport fares. A large firework-style device, apparently thrown by one of the protesters, exploded close to his head, leaving him with multiple burns and a fractured skull. Mr Andrade was immediately hospitalized and operated on but reportedly died of his injuries on 10 February.
We deeply regret Mr Andrade’s death and respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to guarantee the safety of journalists covering protests.
We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that those responsible are quickly identified and brought to justice. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of journalists carrying out their profession.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Marcelo Rech
President
WAN-IFRA Latin America Committee
Erik Bjerager
President
World Editors Forum
