US lawmakers this week introduced a resolution condemning violence against journalists in Mexico.
Senators Bob Menéndez, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Tim Kaine, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, along with eight fellow House Democrats, expressed their support for better protections for the press in Mexico.
The resolution coincided with the meeting in Washington D.C. of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with his American counterpart Joe Biden.
In a joint statement, Kaine acknowledged the importance of López Obrador’s visit to discuss trade, migration, security and other issues.
However, he said that “it is equally important to take action to strengthen protections for journalists in Mexico, where they continue to face record levels of violence in the country.”
Mexico is one of the most dangerous nations for the media outside of war areas and has a poor track record in bringing justice to journalists killed on the basis of their work.”
There are security measures, such as a federal program to offer assistance and protection to journalists, but those enrolled affirm that they are not enough.
At least 12 journalists have been murdered in Mexico in so far this year. On July 1, a radio journalist from the state of Jalisco miraculously survived a knife attack.
The press relations office of the president of Mexico told the voice of america in May that the López Obrador administration was addressing the violence.
“Progress is being made in eradicating impunity for crimes against journalists,” the office said, noting that authorities had taken action against suspects in at least six of the 2022 killings.
Urgent protection need
In their resolution, US lawmakers called on Mexico to commit to “detailed and impartial” investigations into media-targeted violence, assist state bodies to improve protection measures, and work with civil society to monitor conditions. for communicators.
In a statement released to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kaine said that “freedom of the press must remain the cornerstone of every democratic nation, including Mexico. This resolution underscores the urgent need to protect journalists who risk their lives to report the truth.”
Recalling that the European Parliament passed a similar resolution earlier this year, Menéndez said that “as journalists risk everything to bring out the truth, expose injustice and hold bad actors accountable, they deserve nothing less than our full support and that of the government of Mexico”.
López Obrador responded to criticism from the European Parliament at one of his daily press conferences in March, saying that he was taking action over the killings and that criticism of Mexico’s response to attacks on the press was part of “a campaign against government”.
Press rights groups reacted to the president’s hostile rhetoric against journalists.
Reporters Without Borders says that the López Obrador administration accuses journalists of being biased and tries to discredit them, including the president himself.
Arturo Sarukhan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Mexican ambassador to the United States, told the VOA that a “commitment” to protect journalists is “what matters at the end of the day.”
The López Obrador administration must commit itself “to protecting journalists, to providing them with the protection they require so that they are not intimidated, in some cases by organized crime, and that the president himself does not…attack, denigrate, criticize and question journalists.” media”.
For journalists in Mexico, the killings and violence make them feel vulnerable.
“We are sad and tired of these violent events,” he told the VOA Juan de Dios García Davish, executive director of the news site Quadratin Chiapas last month, after the murder of Antonio de la Cruz, in the state of Tamaulipas, on June 29.
De Dios García Davish moved to Las Vegas, in the US state of Nevada, for security reasons.
María de Jesús Peters, another Mexican journalist who moved to the United States for security reasons, said: “The truth is not killed by killing journalists. And today, we are demanding that justice.”
[Con reporte de Jessica Jerreat, Anita Powell and Cristina Caicedo Smit]
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