The recent assassinations of Jorge Celestino Ruíz Vázquez and Nevith Condés Jaramillo bring to 10 the number of journalists killed in Mexico in 2019, which confirms its status as the most dangerous country in the world for the press. Coupled with almost total impunity, this situation of extreme violence has not yet generated a strong reaction from the government of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, to whom Reporters Without Borders (RSF) addresses its recommendations.
Rogelio Barragán Pérez , Norma Garaba Sarduza , Francisco Romero Diaz , Telesforo Santiago Enríquez ,Jesús Eugenio Ramos Rodríguez ,Rafael Murúa Manríquez , Omar Iván Camacho Mascareño, Santiago Barroso, Jorge Celestino Ruíz Vázquez and Nevith Condés Jaramillo …the list of murdered Mexican journalists in connection with their work of information is growing inexorably. As of August 24, 2019, the day of the murder of Nevith Condés Jaramillo, Mexico recorded at least * 10 cases of murdered journalists, the same as for the the whole of 2018. More than 30% of the murders of journalists in the world in 2019 was committed in Mexico, which became the deadliest country for the press, far ahead of Afghanistan and Syria which count respectively, four assassinations over the same period.
The last two assassinations are particularly revealing of the inability and ineffectiveness of the federal and local authorities to stem this spiral of violence, especially when local officials seem directly involved in the killings.
On Saturday, August 24, in the city of Tejupilco (State of Mexico), Nevith Condés Jaramillo was stabbed to death, and his body found abandoned in the surrounding mountains. Nevith was director of the online newspaper El Observatorio del Sur , in which he frequently denounced the corruption of local officials. The journalist’s colleagues and relatives interviewed by RSF say that he had been threatened with death twice, in November 2018 and again in June 2019, in retaliation for his publications. The Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists had been informed of these threats but had not given it a security device. Nevith’s colleagues also confessed that he ” had a lot of tensions “with the mayor of Tejupilco, Anthony Domínguez Vargas.
Jorge Celestino Ruíz Vázquez, murdered on 2 August 2019 in the municipality of Actopan (State of Veracruz), was correspondent for the newspaper El Gráfico de Xalapa. For having denounced in his articles the corruption – misappropriation of public funds, in particular – of the mayor of Actopan, José Paulino Domínguez Sánchez, he had been attacked and threatened several times in 2018. After having complained to the local justice, the The journalist had obtained temporary protection measures, which the Veracruz police had finally decided not to put in place, without explanation. A few days before the assassination, a messenger of the mayor had gone to the premises of El Gráfico de Xalapato offer money in exchange for not publishing compromising information about the activities of the elected representative, a proposal obviously rejected by the newspaper.
Investigators must show the utmost impartiality, privilege the professional track and identify in the shortest time those responsible for the assassinations of Jorge Celestino Ruíz Vázquez and Nevith Condés Jaramillo, cases where the involvement of local officials is strongly suspicion, “says Emmanuel Colombié, director of the Latin America office for RSF. ” Faced with this wave of attacks and assassinations, the government of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador must take stock of the gravity of the situation and embark on the courageous reforms he has undertaken. “
The impunity of crimes against journalists in Mexico exceeds 90%, which explains the vicious circle in which the Mexican press finds itself. In view of this , in March 2019 RSF appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the impunity for the assassinations and disappearances of journalists between 2006 and 2018, during the terms of the two predecessors of Andrés Manuel Obrador, the presidents Felipe Calderon and Enrique Peña Nieto.
The unprecedented level of killings of journalists in 2019 has also led RSF to share a number of recommendations with the Mexican authorities, including the presidential office.
RSF recommends the following measures:
Strengthen the safety of journalists by:
- Improving the efficiency and responsiveness of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists, by strengthening its human and financial capacities, and overhauling its role in the prevention of risks to the profession, particularly in the most dangerous states from the country.
- Implementing as soon as possible the recommendations of the Diagnosis on the functioning of the Mechanism,submitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Mexican authorities on 29 July 2019 and presented publicly on 26 August 2019.
- Putting in place a comprehensive policy of taking care of journalists and their families victims of forced displacement.
2) Strengthen the means of investigation of the Mexican authoritiesThe Feadle (special prosecutor’s office responsible for crimes against freedom of expression) will soon include the new Special Prosecutor for Human Rights. In this context, it is urgent to:
- Strengthen the prerogatives, human and financial resources of the Feadle
- Make known as soon as possible the new guidelines of the Feadle concerning the investigation of the crimes against the journalists, and specify the means of appeal against the decisions of this Prosecutor’s office
- Encourage the Feadle to make full use of its attraction capacity, from the local to the federal level, to investigate crimes against freedom of expression, as provided for in Article 21 of the Penal Code. RSF considers that this attraction must be applied in the cases of the murders of Jorge Celestino Ruiz, Norma Sarabia Garduza and Francisco Romero, perpetrated in 2019.
- That the new Protocol of Investigation of Crimes against Journalists, ratified in October 2018, be effectively implemented.
- That the new Special Prosecutor’s Office in charge of Human Rights, on which Feadle will depend, should as soon as possible bring together civil society organizations to discuss new objectives and challenges.
Mexico is ranked 144 out of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by RSF.
Other cases, especially those of journalists Samir Flores and Reynaldo Lopez, are still being checked. RSF must establish whether there is a clear link between murder and journalistic activity.
Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders, CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org
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