Freedom of Expression
Press Release R189/19
Office of the Special Rapporteur
condemns increased violence against journalists and the media in Mexico and
urges the State to strengthen strategies for prevention, protection, and fight
against impunity at federal and state levels
August 5, 2019
Washington DC- The Office of the Special Rapporteur
for Freedom of Expression condemns the increase in violence against journalists
and the media in Mexico and recalls that the security crisis against
journalists, ongoing for years, requires the adoption of a specific modality of
identification, attention, and response. In the last week, the murders of
journalists Rogelio Barragán, director of the "Guerrero al instante"
media outlet in Morelos, of Edgar Alberto Nava, director of the news portal
" La verdad de Zihuatanejo" (Guerrero), and of Jorge Celestino Ruiz,
from the Graphic newspaper of Xalapa (Veracruz) were reported. Likewise, the
facilities of the newspaper "El Monitor del Parral", in Chihuahua, were the
target of a Molotov bomb attack.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur urges the federal
government to take decisive steps to strengthen the Federal Protection
Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists and to urgently increase
coordination with the states for this purpose, as well as provide resources and
give priority to the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Attention of Crimes
Against Freedom of Expression [Fiscalía
Especializada para la Atención de Delitos Contra la Libertad de Expresión]
(FEADLE), in accordance with the recommendations made in the Special Report on
the Situation of Freedom of Expression in Mexico 2018, as a result of the joint
visit of the Office of the Special Rapporteur of the IACHR and the UN Rapporteur
for Freedom of Expression and Opinion.
In the first half of 2019, the Office of the Special
Rapporteur has identified 10 murders of journalists that could be linked to their
work, so far. These losses are aimed at silencing those who are most
indispensable to publicize the situation of conflict, insecurity, corruption,
and criminality in some States of Mexico. It also notes with concern the
increase in attacks against media companies in the country, which shows that
the crisis of violence against journalists in Mexico persists.
This office urges the Mexican State to investigate fully,
effectively, and impartially these crimes, clarify their motives and determine
the relationship they might have to journalistic activity. For this, the
Special Prosecutor's Office must have resources, adopt clear rules to open
investigations of cases in States where these crimes are recurrent, and achieve
greater coordination with local authorities.
The most recent cases
The Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Morelos
reported on Tuesday, July 30, the murder of journalist Rogelio Barragán, who
was working in the neighboring State of Guerrero, and announced the opening of
an investigation. In addition, it indicated that the body was found with tied
hands and signs of torture in the trunk of an abandoned vehicle in the Benito
Juárez neighborhood of the municipality of Zacatepec.
According to information of public knowledge, Barragán
had been working in the area of judicial journalism for more than a decade from
Chilpancingo, on the portal he directed, "Guerrero al Instante" where
he would have covered various events. Although to date there is no clear information
on whether the journalist would have been threatened before, some sources
indicate that he would have been escaping from his city, which is why the body
was found outside the State where the journalist worked.
According to reports from the Prosecutor's Office of
the State of Guerrero, the second journalist murdered in less than a week in
Mexico was Edgar Alberto Nava, who was executed on Friday, August 2 while
having breakfast with a group of children on the beach. This breakfast was part
of a program organized by the Zihuatanejo City Council, of which the journalist
was also the director of regulations and events in the Costa Grande region.
Also on Friday, August 2, Jorge Celestino Ruiz, a
correspondent for the Graphic newspaper of Xalapa, was murdered. According to
the authorities, he was attacked with firearms in the municipality of Actopan
in the State of Veracruz. According to public information, in October 2018
Ruiz's house would have been attacked and the journalist filed a complaint for
the event to be investigated.
Likewise, on Tuesday, July 30, a group of hooded men
attacked the headquarters of the newspaper "El Monitor de Parral" in
Chihuahua with Molotov bombs. The newspaper had announced that it would stop
printing and its reporters would no longer cover information from the political
and judicial area, until there were better conditions to carry out journalistic
work. "We will not publish absolutely no news of a police nature – important as
it may be. We will also not be involved in any aspect that represents a
political bias," they said through their Social Networks account.
The attack on the facilities of El Monitor de Parral, considered one of the oldest newspapers in
the State of Chihuahua, shows the serious situation of the security crisis for
the exercise freedom of expression in the country, as well as the increase in
attacks against the Press compared to the same period of 2018.
"We are alarmed by the number of cases that seem
to exacerbate violence against the press in Mexico. It is urgent to review and
implement changes in prevention and protection policies, as well as in the
entities that must investigate these crimes," said Edison Lanza, Rapporteur
for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR.
The Special Report on the Situation of Freedom of
Expression in Mexico 2018, recommended that the federal government implement a
prevention policy given the seriousness of this crisis, in addition to the
mentioned protection and justice measures. Among other measures, it was
recommended to establish a person in charge of compiling disaggregated
statistics on attacks against the press, adopting a public speech recognizing
the work of journalists, and implementing contingency plans for states such as
Guerrero, Veracruz and Chihuahua, where there is a particular risk for the
exercise of journalism.
Both the Commission and the Inter-American Court have
repeatedly referred to the chilling effect of crimes against journalists and
other media professionals, as well citizens who intend to report abuses of
power or illegal acts of any nature.
Principle 9 of the Declaration of Principles on
Freedom of Expression of the IACHR states: "[t]he murder, kidnapping,
intimidation of and/or threats to social communicators, as well as the material
destruction of communications media violate the fundamental rights of
individuals and strongly restrict freedom of expression. It is the duty of the
state to prevent and investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators
and to ensure that victims receive due compensation."
The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of
Expression was created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
with the aim of encouraging the defense of the right to freedom of thought and
expression in the hemisphere, given its fundamental role in consolidating and
developing the democratic system.
R189/19