This Tuesday, EL PAÍS journalist Alejandro Santos was awarded the Mexican National Journalism Award for Inside prison with Pablo López Alavez, 13 years imprisoned for a crime he did not commit: “I hope my voice reaches López Obrador’s ears”, an interview with López, a land defender of Zapotec origin, imprisoned in Oaxaca for more than a decade. “This journalistic piece stands out for its brilliant literary construction, which narrates the testimony of a Zapotec indigenous leader unjustly accused of murder for defending the forests. The work combines photography, video and moving prose to make visible the struggle of those who oppose illegal logging, often driven by economic and political interests,” highlighted the award jury.
The award-winning text is the product of the meeting with the 54-year-old forest defender inside the Social Readaptation Center (Cereso) in Villa de Etla, Oaxaca, and shows the strong institutional violence and repression that is exercised against the land defenders in Mexico, one of the deadliest countries for environmentalists.
Both the interview and the photographs by Rodrigo Oropeza show the inhumane conditions in which López Alavez has lived for 13 years. According to international bodies, the activist was detained “arbitrarily” and his judicial process was plagued by “irregularities.” In May 2023, the Mexican State apologized to another defender, Damián Gallardo, who took advantage of the institutional act to demand the freedom of López Alavez. Meanwhile, the farmer and social leader of San Isidro Aloápam remains behind bars.
The jury has highlighted that Alejandro Santos’ work also shows the failures of the Mexican judicial system and makes visible the struggle of those who oppose illegal logging, often driven by economic and political interests. “I don’t regret being a defender of nature. Everything I have been doing is for the good of the future of my children and grandchildren, of my community,” says the environmentalist in his statements. “I don’t know how many generations will pass (…) If we let our municipality continue logging year after year, what will happen?” he adds.
After a conviction, a ratification, several protections and appeals, the process against him is once again in the “instruction stage in the traditional criminal system”, awaiting a new judicial decision that may release him or leave him imprisoned. “To this day I still don’t get used to prison. I simply adapt to the rules so that I can gain more privileges. There are almost all days of sadness, if I told you. My struggle, my effort, is what calms me down. There are times when suddenly he wants to dominate me [la tristeza]”But no matter how the blows come, I have to face them to be able to move forward,” says the Zapotec indigenous man.
The jury also highlighted the América Futura report with an honorable mention in Scientific and Cultural Journalism. The journey of a hereditary disease with no cure from the Pyrenees to the mountains of Veracruzwritten by Andrea Jiménez, a contributor to this newspaper, and with photographs by Nayeli Cruz. The work addresses spinocerebellar ataxia type 7, a neurodegenerative disease with the highest prevalence in the world in a rural area of the Mexican mountains. “This report stands out for its clear and understandable language when addressing the issue of a rare hereditary disease that affects a population in Veracruz. Through interviews and testimonies of affected people and specialists, the piece manages to convey the feeling of the community and generate empathy in the reader (…) In addition, the good work in photography is recognized, which accompanies the narrative and was a finalist in the photography categories,” the jury noted.
Among this year’s winners are a chronicle by journalist Marcela Turati about the disappearance and murder of Alicia De los Ríos during the Dirty War in Mexico, published in the media Where do the missing go? In the Opinion category, the article has been awarded Ayotzinapa 9 years: soldiers and spies who command themselvesby Témoris Grecko Berumen, published in Footerand in Photography, an image by Rodrigo Oropeza about the damage caused by Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Guerrero, published by AFP. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Soledad Durazo, a key figure in Mexican journalism, with more than 35 years of experience in radio, television, digital and print press.
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