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Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado was murdered on Sunday in the town of Tijuana, on the border with California. This is the second journalist murdered in a week in this city and the third so far this year in the country. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador assured that he is committed to investigating what happened.
In 2019, Lourdes Maldonado asked the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for help. He feared for his life, he assured, due to a labor lawsuit he had against the former governor of Baja California, Jaime Bonilla. Her fear came true this past Sunday, when she was shot to death in her car on her way home around 6:40 PM local time.
Members of the Red Cross who arrived at the scene of the event together with the police, alerted by the neighbors, certified his death. The murder occurred despite the fact that the journalist belonged to the Baja California Protection for Journalists program for fear of the legal problem she had with the former governor, who belongs to the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) of President López Obrador.
On Thursday, January 20, Maldonado had made his victory in the case public. With his murder, there are now two journalists killed in the city of Tijuana so far this year. On January 17, photojournalist Margarito Martínez Esquivel was shot to death as he was leaving his home for coverage.
Journalists, reporters and communicators in Baja California mobilized and in Tijuana protested outside the Secretary of Public Security and Municipal Citizen Protection (SSPCM).
The politicians of the region and López Obrador commit to investigate the murder
After learning of the murder of the journalist, the governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila, assured that the two cases will be investigated. “We are going to make use of all the force of the State to guarantee that justice prevails, we are not going to allow anyone to take away the peace of mind of families who strive every day to have a full and dignified life,” he said.
In his daily press conference at the National Palace, the Mexican president assured that “what happened in Tijuana hurts a lot” and that “the entire investigation will be carried out.” However, he wanted to be cautious when linking the murder and the lawsuit against the former governor.
“You have to see the cell phone, if there is a connection with the work-related complaint and see who is responsible. See it with great responsibility, even if it is redundant, who they were, if there are intellectual authors, who are the material authors,” said López Obrador .
The United Nations, through its spokesman Stéphane Dujarric, called on Mexico to protect journalists. “We call on the Mexican authorities to reinforce the protection of journalists and in particular to take more measures to prevent new attacks against them, which includes responding to threats and insults against them,” Dujarric said.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard urges the US to resolve a lawsuit against weapons
Taking advantage of the situation, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard affirmed that “this year the complaint filed by the Mexican government in 2021 against 11 US arms manufacturers for promoting illicit trafficking must be resolved.
“We have 3,000 kilometers of border with one of the main arms producers in the world and we are attributing negligence to the companies that we are suing. This year it has to be resolved and we are promoting that other countries participate with us,” Ebrard declared.
According to the foreign minister, the government’s priority this 2022 will be to pursue arms trafficking, “which has to do with the violence we experience on the streets, the greater the availability of weapons, the more risks we run as people.” Ebrard assured that 26 US prosecutors showed their support for Mexico and was optimistic despite the difficulty of holding manufacturers directly responsible.
With EFE and Reuters
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