The murders of journalists are surprising due to their deadly rate in Mexico, a country accustomed to burying an average of 100 people a day for violence of all kinds with hardly any public commotion: five reporters have already been executed so far this year, that is to say In less than a month and a half. If it continues like this, 2022 will reflect the most criminal statistics in a long time. Since the beginning of the century, specialized organizations have collected 147 communication professionals killed by assassins in the North American country, which has earned it the undesirable reputation of being the worst territory to practice this trade. It is, they say, the same as reporting in the middle of a war. The journalist murdered this Thursday was called Heber López Vásquez, 39 years old, and the shots surprised him in the recording studio of his house: he fell dead right there and his critical voice about the reality of Oaxaca was silenced forever.
The pattern repeats itself: local journalists who risk their lives by telling about corruption and the enormous imbalances of political and economic power in their regions or municipalities. López Vásquez had spent a lot of time on security news, that is, on reporting crimes, and lately also on exposing alleged irregularities in a breakwater megaproject in his town, Salina Cruz. Similar profiles showed Margarito Martínez, riddled with bullets at the door of his house in Tijuana, on January 17, just a few days before another comrade was killed in the same border city, Lourdes Maldonado, who was in a lawsuit with the previous governor of the State of Lower California. The connivance in Mexico between crime and political and economic power forms such an amalgam that it is an indissoluble knot and confers its own characteristics to the drama. How to ask for protection if the one who has to protect is in collusion with the bullets? That is the reason why many reporters choose not to report their case, for fear of increasing the risk.
The organization Article 19, one of those that documents the massacre of journalists in Mexico, points out that the responsibility for 40% of the murders falls on public officials, that is, mayors, municipal security chiefs, police, military and uniformed men of any kind. Body. That is the reason that there are two windows to ask for support, that of the States and the federal one. If you feel attacked by bureaucrats or political officials in your community, you can resort to federal protection. But both show flaws. Risk analysis is usually not accurate or professional. Sometimes they barely get a panic button, other times they are given bulletproof vests or even escorts. But these have schedule. The case of Lourdes Maldonado was especially instructive.
Maldonado arrived home on January 23, the Sunday that his colleagues had organized a protest evening for the death of Margarito Martínez in Tijuana. The escorts had already finished their day and a bullet ended his life when he had not yet gotten out of the car, at his garage door. His case was a knock that led to demonstrations by reporters throughout the country. The President of the Government, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, sent special investigation personnel to clarify the crime. He felt especially concerned since the reporter had participated months before in one of the morning conferences that the Mexican president offers daily. There he stood up and exposed his case to the entire country: “I fear for my life,” he said. He was right. His case made a lot of noise and there are already two detainees for his death. And another two by López Vásquez. Experts warn that stopping hitmen is easy, the cameras give them away. But only half the truth is imprisoned with them. Those who pay to have the trigger pulled tend to have more powerful profiles and do not end up in jail. In Mexico, impunity for any kind of murder exceeds 90%. In the case of journalists, Article 19 speaks of 99.13% of unsolved crimes, some of which are intentionally delayed in prosecution for years.
“The situation is unsustainable, we don’t know the reasons for this uptick, because last year there were nine reporters killed and this year there are already five,” Juan Vázquez, Article 19’s communication officer, begins. “Comprehensive measures are necessary, that is, , that they do not remain in protection policies, which end up placing the responsibility on the victim. Prevention is required, that the instigator be identified and that impunity be combated,” adds Vázquez.
The deadliest years in recent times were 2016 and 2017, when 11 and 12 reporters were murdered, respectively. But this administration shows bad omens. The president’s crusade against the press, whose daily speeches put professionals in a bad place on a recurring basis, does not help at all. This Friday, with the body of Heber López still without land, was the last time that López Obrador has dedicated a good part of his morning conference to criticizing certain journalists that he considers enemies of his government project and praising those who are related. “The climate is adverse for the press, because they are placed in a privileged position which, definitely, the attacked do not enjoy. They usually work in precarious conditions and usually go to another job to complete their poor salary,” says Vázquez. That is the reason, Article 19 points out, why, on too many occasions, political and judicial authorities divert attention from deaths, pointing to causes other than those of journalistic activities. The State positions itself as a victim instead of being responsible for the violence,” adds Vázquez.
These are turbulent times for the press. They are discredited and stigmatized while an attack occurs every 12 hours. Mexico City, seat of the central powers, remained somewhat safe from these crimes, but the bullets are already knocking at its doors, as the threatened journalists declare. López Vásquez had also received threats from the former mayor of his town, Juan Carlos Atecas, and intimidation by his security personnel, according to Article 19 investigations. One of the two arrested for his death is a former police officer. local. The police in Mexico have a dangerous revolving door, often when the agent is not on the side of the citizen, he jumps into the trench of the criminals. A terrible employment situation also makes them victims of a rotten system.
Ten women murdered a day on average, a daily police officer and dozens of young people, above all, related or not to organized crime, scattered through the streets, hanged on public roads, or disemboweled by bullets. This is how they show them in the kiosks every morning and they make fun of it.
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