The murder of the director of the newspaper El Veraz, Yessenia Mollinedo, and her photographer, Johana García, when they were shot by several men this Monday afternoon after leaving a store in the Veracruz municipality of Cosoleacaque, occurred shortly before the demonstrations for the murder on May 4 in Sinaloa of reporter Luis Enrique Ramírez. The demonstrators, summoned by unions and groups of the Mexican press, have painted new posters with the names of Yessenia and Johana, who are already part of the tragic
list of 11 journalists murdered this year in Mexico, to demand from the Mexican government “protection and an end to impunity”. His assailants waited for them to get into his car, approached in broad daylight, shot and fled. The mourning in the Mexican press does not end. The Secretary of Public Security has activated the ‘Red Code’, an emergency operation that allows them to use helicopters to search the area and deploy roadblocks to make it difficult for vehicles to flee.
The wave of murders of journalists in Mexico has caused the members of the National Meeting of Journalists of San Cristóbal de las Casas, together with a dozen Mexican and international journalistic organizations, to demand that the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), to “stop its daily confrontation against journalists that generates a more adverse climate.” The Mexican press asks AMLO for security in the face of the lack of effectiveness of the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists: “We demand justice for Luis Enrique and for each of the murdered fellow journalists, but above all we demand that the necessary guarantees be provided to stop the murder of journalists in Mexico.
36 journalists have been murdered in the three years of AMLO’s government, 50% more than his predecessors
The three years of AMLO’s government have been the most violent period against Mexican journalists on record. The civil organization that defends freedom of the press, Article 19, has recorded 36 murders during its mandate, 50% more homicides compared to the previous governments of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) , when 26 and 19 communicators, respectively, were murdered in its first three years. Article 19 highlights that there have been 1,945 attacks against the press since AMLO was president, 85% more attacks. The 11 journalists murdered this year show the lack of protection. A journalist is murdered every ten days this year in Mexico.
Despite the fact that AMLO reiterates that “impunity is over”, official data from the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that 90% of attacks against the press remain unsolved. The Article 19 report on violence against the press highlights that “denying” the reality that Mexico is going through entails “the lack of urgent measures to stop the spiral of violence, the attack on democracy and freedom of expression.” Since 2000, Article19 has documented 153 murders of journalists in Mexico related to their work.
“You don’t kill the truth by killing journalists”, the demonstration in Mexico City reflects the weariness of lack of protection and impunity
Shortly after learning of the double homicide, the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) has demanded from the authorities that “the journalistic activity of both communicators be the main line of investigation of the cowardly crime.” “AMLO” has been one of the most repeated names in the demonstration that has brought together hundreds of people dressed in black this Monday afternoon in front of the Angel of Independence in Mexico City.
The weariness for the two murdered journalists has joined the most repeated slogan this year among the Mexican press: “You don’t kill the truth by killing journalists.” Mexican reporters face great vulnerability working in extremely violent places with little government resources for their protection. “Neither forget nor forgive,” shouted the protesters.
The People’s Court on the Murder of Journalists demands that AMLO put an end to “an exercise of inquisition of the press”
AMLO insists that the murders of journalists during his mandate cannot be considered state crimes since political actors “no longer participate in these crimes.” AMLO has charged against previous governments: “These gangs emerged during the neoliberal period, they were even tolerated by neoliberal governments. You are not talking about the fact that Felipe Calderón’s Secretary of Public Security of Mexico had relations with organized crime and that is why he is imprisoned in the United States”. The People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists, a project organized by Reporters Without Borders and Free Press Unlimited, has pointed to state failures to protect journalists. Emmanuel Colombié, director of Reporters Without Borders in Latin America, explained at the end of April: “We want to show that the Mexican authorities have failed in their mission to protect journalists.”
The Mexican press demands the end of the weekly section ‘Who is who in the lies’, in which AMLO attacks journalists who have published news that the government considers false or manipulated. Mexican journalists demand that AMLO end the accusations against colleagues who are critical of his management, whom the Mexican president habitually describes as “sold out” or “mercenaries.”
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