CDMX, with red lights in violence against journalists

Contrary to what is thought, Mexico City is where most attacks against journalists are recorded, and where these cases are least talked about, warned experts on the protection of communicators.

Paula Saucedo, an officer of the protection and defense program of the organization Article 19, pointed out that the attacks against the dam in the country’s capital occur for various reasons, including the coverage of protests that are often considered risky for the press.

The member of Article 19 added that the lack of protection mechanisms and proposals or strategies that really confront the reasons that generate violence against the press is worrisome.

“Of course this means that even though it is the capital (of the country) the press continues to be attacked, in different ways and of course there are more networks and it does not occur in areas as remote as other places, but violence against the press is systemic. , therefore there are no guarantees for a free exercise of violence anywhere in the country”, he stressed.

When speaking about the recent attack against the journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, who was shot at least nine times by armed men while he was driving his vehicle on the way home, the expert indicated that it is understood as a message in which serious violence, as an attack or homicide, translates as “null guarantees” for journalism

“It translates into an environment in which there is a high degree of permissiveness to attack the press (…) in Mexico there is a context that allows these groups to act against the press. It is an urgent call to act and it puts us in a position of alert”, said

Saucedo pointed out that in Mexico City, especially, guarantees must be generated for the press since it is an entity where displaced journalists fleeing their states are concentrated.

And it is that among the attacks that are most registered in the capital are threats, surveillance, smear campaigns, threats of sexual violence against women journalists, theft of equipment, physical attacks and information blockades.

Safe city, a myth

For her part, Balbina Flores, representative of Reporters Without Borders in Mexico, considered that the idea that Mexico City is safe for journalists is wrong, since there are precedents such as the murder of Rubén Espinoza in the Narvarte neighborhood, or the threats to the journalist Azucena Uresti, who have broken the myth of a safe city.

This background tells us that the City is not 100% safe, for anyone, not even journalists (…) It is one of the cities where the most attacks on journalists are recorded and it is the one that is rarely talked about,” he said.

And it is that he recalled that for years Mexico City has appeared as one of the cities with the highest records of attacks against journalists; most are threats.

While the recent attack on the journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, Flores warned, comes to turn on the red flags of the attacks since “we must not forget that there are other facts that indicate that the capital is not that security bubble that we think.”

Likewise, they agreed that it is necessary to review the security protocols that are given to journalists, as well as the security regulations in place in the capital.

At the same time, the mechanisms must be stronger, coordinated, comprehensive and not only a protection that is based on panic buttons or rounds at their homes, since protocols are needed according to the context and level of risk of the communicator.

They affirm that there is progress in the Gómez Leyva case

Capital authorities affirmed over the weekend that there is progress in the identification of the subjects who tried to assassinate Gómez Leyva last Thursday.

After the Police Day parade, the capital’s Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, affirmed that progress has already been made in the investigation, although he said that since it was an active investigation, no further information could be revealed.

After the attack against the journalist, the capital authorities announced that the attackers fled towards the State of Mexico.

Attacks against communicators in the capital grew 45% in 2021

Despite being a city considered a “sanctuary” for journalists displaced by violence in the country’s entities, in Mexico City there are attacks against communicators, the cales increased, between 2020 and 2021, by 45% according to the Capital Protection Mechanism.

According to data from the annual reports presented by the local Protection Mechanism, in 2020 there were 35 attacks against journalists and/or media workers in Mexico City.

By 2021, the figure has risen to 51 attacks according to the monitoring it does through open sources and which, the documents state, is part of the strategy to prevent violence against communicators in the capital.

For this 2022, until last August, the Protection Mechanism counted at least 29 attacks against journalists in Mexico City.

Cases in detail

From 2020 to last August, there have been reports from death threats against journalists to searches of their homes, according to reports from the Mechanism.

In 2021, for example, the data reports some 27 attacks ranging from physical to verbal; eight cases of threats against communicators.

In addition to at least three cases of harassment and intimidation and one case of intrusion into the home of a journalist and/or media worker, among others.

For this 2022, the cases of attacks against communicators range from physical attacks to the impediment of coverage of an event.

The monitoring of the CDMX Protection Mechanism specified that on Tuesday, February 1, in the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office, a case was presented in which journalistic coverage of an event was prevented, however, it did not refer to which authority or subject prevented the reporting.

That same day, two cases of physical attacks against journalists were recorded in the Azcapotzalco mayor’s office.

A similar case of obstruction of journalistic work was reported on Monday, February 14, also in the Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office. (Drafting)

maritza.perez@eleconomista.mx