How Mexico’s Government Fails to Protect Journalists
Additional Piece:
Investigative journalism plays a crucial role in a democratic society, holding those in power accountable and shedding light on corruption and crime. However, in Mexico, journalists who dare to report on these issues often find themselves in grave danger. The Mexican government’s failure to protect journalists and address the high levels of violence against them raises concerns about a deep-rooted culture of impunity and complicity within the country.
One of the most alarming aspects of the situation is the government’s involvement or perceived involvement in the crimes committed against journalists. In the case of Miroslava Breach Velducea, a courageous journalist from Chihuahua, she was shot dead by a drug gang after years of reporting on corruption and criminal activity. Shockingly, it was later revealed that a former mayor, Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, had passed recordings of the journalist to the gang that ultimately killed her. While Schultz Alcaraz received an eight-year prison sentence for his role, the fact that a government official was implicated in the murder highlights the blurred lines between those who are supposed to protect journalists and the criminals they investigate.
The case of Rubén Espinosa further illustrates this disturbing pattern. Espinosa, a photographer, faced threats and harassment after capturing an image of Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the governor of Veracruz, for an article exposing the state as a “lawless state.” He was later found shot to death, along with four other individuals, in an apartment in Mexico City. Some believe that his murder was directly linked to his work as a journalist, but despite multiple investigations, no one has been formally charged in connection with the case. This lack of accountability not only perpetuates a climate of fear for journalists but also sends a message that their lives and work hold little value in the eyes of those in power.
Sadly, these cases are not isolated incidents. According to Human Rights Watch, out of 105 investigations into journalist murders in Mexico since 2010, only six have resulted in murder sentences. This staggering statistic reveals a systemic failure to address the violence faced by journalists and to ensure justice for their untimely deaths. It is a chilling reminder that those who speak out against corruption and criminality in Mexico risk paying the ultimate price.
Furthermore, the lack of support for journalists extends to some of the country’s most prominent officials. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s derogatory remarks towards journalists, labeling them as purveyors of “lies,” only serve to further undermine the crucial role they play in society. His public criticism of journalists like Ciro Gómez Leyva not only fuels a hostile environment for the media but also potentially puts their lives in danger. The fact that Gómez Leyva narrowly escaped an assassination attempt demonstrates the grave risks journalists face when those in positions of power openly antagonize them.
The challenges faced by journalists in Mexico highlight the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to protect their safety and freedom of expression. This includes not only holding perpetrators of violence against journalists accountable but also addressing the underlying issues of corruption, organized crime, and impunity that obstruct justice. Without a concerted effort to dismantle these structures of power, Mexico will continue to be a dangerous battleground for those who seek to expose the truth.
Summary:
The article provides a disturbing account of the dangers faced by journalists in Mexico and the complicity of the government in perpetrating or failing to address the violence against them. It highlights specific cases, such as the murder of Miroslava Breach Velducea and the assassination of Rubén Espinosa, where government officials or former officials were implicated in the crimes. The article emphasizes the alarming rate of impunity, with only a small percentage of investigations into journalist murders resulting in convictions. It also addresses the hostile environment created by President López Obrador’s disparaging remarks towards journalists. The author argues that comprehensive reforms are needed to protect journalists and address the underlying issues contributing to their vulnerability. The article calls for accountability, the dismantling of corrupt networks, and an improvement in the safety of journalists.
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Unable to protect journalists where they work, Mexico resorted to hiding them in safe houses across the country. After years of becoming increasingly involved with criminal groups, the Mexican government is in a sense in a battle with itself, with case after case in which the government is, or at least appears to be, as involved in the crime as it is in the punishment. Sometimes the connection is clear. In 2017, Miroslava Breach Velducea, a journalist from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, was shot dead by a drug gang after years of reporting on corruption and criminal groups. A former mayor who Breach had reported on, Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, later admitted to passing recordings of the journalist to members of the gang that killed her and was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in her death.
But concerns about government complicity often fall on deaf ears. In 2014, Rubén Espinosa, a 31-year-old photographer, began receiving threats after the magazine Proceso published a photograph he took of Javier Duarte de Ochoa, then governor of the state of Veracruz, in an article declaring him a “ lawless state.” “In 2015, after fleeing Veracruz, Espinosa was shot to death along with four other people in an apartment in Mexico City. At least 17 Veracruz reporters were killed while Duarte was in office, a gruesome record. The former governor He is now in prison accused of organized crime, but has never been formally charged in connection with any of the murders. Of 105 investigations into murders of journalists in Mexico since 2010, only six resulted in murder sentences, according to Human Rights Watch.
Far from defending journalists, some of the country’s most prominent officials have turned against them. In 2021, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador added a new weekly segment to his morning press conference called “Who’s Who in Lies.” In December, he targeted three journalists, including Ciro Gómez Leyva, a prominent television presenter, saying that “if you listen to them too much, you could even get a brain tumor.” The next day, Gómez Leyva was returning to his house after his broadcast when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on his car. The anchor survived only because the car was equipped with bulletproof glass windows.
Armando Linares knew that investigating the local government could be risky on many levels. At his last news outlet, a newspaper called El Despertar, he had spent months investigating connections between the state prosecutor’s office and the drug gangs he was supposedly pursuing. His colleagues had warned him that the newspaper depended on local government advertisements. Soon, the state attorney general called a meeting with the newspaper’s owner to close the reports. When Linares found out about the meeting, he confronted the owner and soon left the newspaper, several of his colleagues told me, although it was unclear whether he had been fired or resigned in protest.
A former colleague described Linares to me as the kind of street reporter who was so connected that he sometimes showed up at crime scenes before the police. But he had also had a drinking problem and years earlier he had gone to rehab for drug addiction. He was married but it had been years since he had lived in the same house as his wife and his three children. Joel Vera Terrazas, his colleague at Monitor Michoacán, told me that reporting “is what saved Armando from Armando, from his demons.” When Vera, a prominent lawyer from Zitácuaro, saw Linares in a traditional Mexican cabin on the outskirts of town after parting ways with El Despertar, he said he could see the toll the past few months had taken on his friend. . And then Vera made Linares a proposal: he would finance a new establishment in the city with Linares at the helm.
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