US senators took advantage of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Joe Biden this week to step up the crackdown against the killing of journalists in the Latin country.
in six months, 12 media workers killed in Mexicoa number exceeding Journalists killed during the war in Ukraine. In the latest recorded attack, reporter Susana Carreño survived after being stabbed by unidentified men earlier this month.
Deadly violence against the press in Mexico has had repercussions on the US Hispanic community, prompting congressional politicians to request López Obrador to increase security for Mexican professionals.
US lawmakers advocate protecting journalists
Before the Mexican president’s visit came strong statements against US action in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Last week, López Obrador proposes to demolish the Statue of Liberty In case the Australian journalist is arrested and dies in an American prison.
The conversation with Joe Biden, however, was more friendly than the conversations the Mexican had while he was in his country.
“It was a pleasure to sit down with President López Obrador and discuss the broad and deep partnership between our nations,” the American said on social media after the meeting.
The United States’ strong relationship with Mexico is critical in reaching the people of North America and this Hemisphere.
It has been a pleasure for me to sit down with President López Obrador and discuss the broad and deep partnership between our nations. pic.twitter.com/CsfcF86pwO
— President Biden (@POTUS) 12 July 2022
While diplomatic issues were handled cordially, a group of 10 senators took the opportunity to pass a resolution demanding the protection of Mexican journalists.
The document, signed by Bob Menendez, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Tim Kaine, chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, and eight other Democratic senators, calls for the Mexican government to “comprehensive and impartial investigations” into violence against journalists.
“In recent years, Mexico has been the most dangerous country in the world for journalists outside of a war zone,” Menéndez said in a statement.
“With 12 Mexican journalists killed in the first six months of 2022, urgent action is needed to stop hostility to the free press.”
Lawmakers denounced “consistently high levels of violence” against Mexican media professionals and stressed the need for the government to help local and state agencies protect them.
“[Além de] Account and cooperate with civil society authorities and multilateral organizations to monitor the status of free and independent media.”
“Press freedom must remain the cornerstone of all democratic nations, including Mexico,” Senator Kaine said. In essence, this decision highlights the urgent need to protect journalists who risk their lives to report the truth.”
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Mexico’s state and federal governments have been criticized by the media and international organizations for failing to prevent the killing of media workers or conduct adequate investigations to pinpoint those responsible for the crimes.
The country in the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Global Press Freedom Rankings, 127th out of 180 countries. It has been analyzed, and rising violence makes Mexico the deadliest country for journalists.
President Lopéz Obrador makes an offensive speech to the press at his public demonstrations, especially when there is some criticism of his government or family members. Frequent insults include accusations that the media defend interest groups and that journalists are mercenaries.
For example, when he spoke about Assange last week, the Mexican leader was confronted with data on the deaths of journalists in the country.
The president was on the defensive: “It’s a smear campaign against the Mexican government,” he said.
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Journalists in Mexico react to every death for fear of being next
Media professionals are terrified as violence spirals out of control in Mexico.
Award-winning journalist Marcela Turati, who has closely watched the attacks on her colleagues in the country, described what it was like to live in the shadow of being the next victim in an article for Nieman Lab.
“It doesn’t matter whether the journalists know the victim or not. Each murder rekindles feelings of fear, horror, despair, anger, and sadness that have accumulated over time,” he writes.
According to Marcela, over the past 20 years Mexican journalists have challenged the idea that they can die “just doing their job” while investigating topics that are beyond the interests of third parties.
Authorities are not seriously investigating these crimes – since 2011 95% of cases remain unresolved. Journalists have begun to worry more about their safety and their future as they struggle with the trauma of losing their colleagues.”
Citing data from NGO Artigo 19, the journalist says 150 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, most of them in government protection programs. Twenty-nine of them have disappeared in the last twenty years.
Also Read | Press freedom in Latin America: Brazil among the ten worst countries, reveals global study
He puts it in context that violence against media workers increased in 2006, when the then-president’s “war on drugs” policy was implemented.
“Since then, Mexican journalists have become war correspondents in our own country,” he said. And he adds that most of the victims are local reporters from areas far from the Mexican capital, and include police, organized crime and political corruption.
Journalist stabbed in Mexico in latest attack
The most recent attack, recorded in the country by groups that monitor global journalism, was against Mexican reporter Susana Carreño of UDG radio, a station affiliated with the University of Guadalajara.
On July 1, the car he was driving with a colleague over the radio was hit by another vehicle.
Two men approached the scene of the motorcycle accident, threatened the journalist with a gun, forcing him to get out of the car and lie on the street. At that moment, he was stabbed several times and caused serious injuries to his chest and neck.
Susana survived the attack and continues to recover. Jalisco governor Enrique Alfaro described the act as a robbery and so far it has not been possible to determine whether it was an isolated crime or if the act was directed against a journalist.
But for UDG director Gabriel Torres, the move was deliberate. Susana recently reported on allegations of corruption and illegal business in the criminal field, Torres told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
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source: Noticias
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