Freedom of Expression
Press Release R153/19
The Office of the Special Rapporteur condemns the murder of journalist Norma Sarabia in Mexico and notes with concern the ongoing attacks against journalists
June 17, 2019
Washington, D.C. - The Office of the Special Rapporteur for
Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
condemns the murder of Mexican journalist Norma Sarabia in the State of Tabasco
and notes with concern the persistent murders of journalists, communicators,
and people related to the media. This Office has registered seven murders in
Mexico in 2019, most of which might be connected with the practice of
journalism. This is a serious indicator of the persistence of violence in
different regions of the country.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur urges the Mexican State
to exhaustively investigate these crimes in a complete, effective, and
impartial manner, to establish the motivations behind those crimes, and to
determine whether there are related with the journalistic activity. Likewise,
this Office reminds the State of urgently monitoring the implementation of
decisive measures in order to strengthen the protection mechanism for journalists.
According to public information, Tabasco Hoy correspondent
Norma Sarabia was murdered on Tuesday night, June 11, by her residence’s door
in Club Liberal in Huimanguillo, Tabasco. The reporter was also an elementary
education teacher in Villa Chontalpa, and according to local media, throughout her
more than 15 years as a journalist, she became known for carrying out police
coverage and reporting on corruption cases.
Tabasco Hoy editor, Héctor Tapia, indicated that Ms. Sarabia
felt unsafe and thus even stopped signing some articles related to organized
crime and other sensitive issues in Chontalpa, a region where several illegal
activities related to drug and fuel trafficking are carried out. This is the
second murder of a communicator in 2019 in Tabasco. On February 9, radio
presenter Jesús Eugenio Ramos was murdered.
Through an official letter, the Office of the Attorney
General of Tabasco indicated that it was already working to solve the crime, that
it had opened an investigation file on the issue at Huimanguillo’s Center for
Justice Enforcement, that it had requested provisional protection measures for
relatives, and that it had initiated the relevant procedures before the Office
of the Attorney General of the Republic in order to comply with the applicable
protocol regarding journalists’ protection.
Likewise, Tabasco Governor Adán Augusto López Hernández
regretted the murder by indicating that he has already asked relevant
authorities to "completely
clarify the facts and to identify the people responsible for the murder."
According to public information, in 2014, Ms. Sarabia reported
allegedly acts of corruption involving the police department of her region,
which led her to report threats against her to the Prosecutor’s Office of
Crimes against Journalists. The complaint was registered in prior investigation
PGR/TAB/CAR-II/121/201.
In addition to Ms. Sarabia’s case, this Office reported six other
killings of journalists, communicators, and/or people related to the media in
Mexico in 2019, which indicates that extreme violence and censorship have taken
place in the country for the last 20 years.
"The alarming cases of journalists murdered in Mexico
continue, as had been the case in previous years. This is an urgent call for
the State to adopt decisive measures to strengthen the mechanism to protect
journalists and strengthen the Special Prosecutor's Office for Attention to
Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression [Fiscalía Especial para la
Atención de Delitos cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión] (FEADLE),"
indicated the Special Rapporteur of the IACHR, Edison Lanza.
A positive indicator in that sense is that this Office has received
an answer from the Mexican State to an Article 41 letter requesting information
on the status of the investigation of the murders of communicators that
happened in the last couple of years in the country. This letter contains
information on the progress of the investigation of the murders of Javier
Valdés, Rubén Espinosa, and Miroslava Breach.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur recommends the Mexican
State should offer further resources to FEADLE, in the context of the gravity of
the violent situation communicators are going through, and recalls that all
cases shall be investigated.
On multiple occasions, both the Commission and the IAHR
Court have referred to the frightening effect of the crimes committed against
journalists and other media professionals, as well as their impact on people aiming
to report on abuse of power and illegal acts of any nature.
Principle 9 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of
Expression of the IACHR states that "the murder, kidnapping, intimidation,
threat to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of the
media, violates people’s fundamental rights and severely restricts the freedom
of expression. It is the duty of the States to prevent and investigate these
acts, to punish their perpetrators and to assure the victims of adequate
reparation."