Journalists in Mexico Feel Helpless as Violence Against Them Increases
Family and colleagues mourn the loss of yet another journalist in Mexico. The journalist Armando Linares is the eighth to be killed in 2022. Media members are calling for justice for Linares and others, such as Heber Lopez. Having published a report on corruption and receiving threats for years, he was shot dead in Oaxaca State in March
Mexican journalist, Antonio Villaseñor told VOA: "We demand justice to the federal and state agencies because we, the journalists, need to have the guarantees in order to work. What happened to Heber? What they did to him in front of his family is very complicated because he didn't deserve this, and neither do we".
Linares was shot less than six weeks after the death of his colleague Roberto Toledo. These journalists' deaths mark a violent year for the Mexican media, which has seen four journalists killed in January, two in February, and two in March. Between 2011 and 2021, 34 Mexican journalists have been murdered for their reporting. Nearly all cases are unsolved, according to the committee to protect journalists. More than a dozen cities across Mexico held protests calling for an end to the violence. US senators Tim Kaine and Marco Rubio have urged the State Department to work closely with Mexico to protect the media.
Jamie Guerrero, another prominent Mexican journalist, in his statement to VOA, said that "we journalists would like to find in the federal and state governments' solidarity with the press, but we see indifference and direct attacks. In other cases, it seems to replicate what they do in Mañaneras to prosecute critical journalists. This seems to be replicated in the states. Remember, that behind a threat to a journalist, there is always the intention of attacking freedom of expression. And in many cases, even the murder of our colleagues."
According to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the bloodshed was caused by societal decay and misguided government policies. Most journalists say they feel helpless. Mexico's journalists face an increasingly dangerous profession as violence rises.
