The Office in Mexico of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN-DH) condemned the recent murders of journalists Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel, in Tijuana, and José Luis Gamboa Arenas, in Veracruz, while recalling that during In 2021, it documented at least 8 homicides and 2 disappearances of communicators that could derive or be related to their work activity and the conditions in which they exercise it.
In addition, he said he had documented the murder of two security guards while they were guarding the facilities of a communication entity.
“The recent murders of Mr. Martínez Esquivel and Mr. Gamboa Arenas are a painful reminder of the alarming violence directed against the press in Mexico. Defamation, threats, aggressions and the most serious attacks against journalists, such as disappearance and murder, constitute dramatic violations not only against the direct victims, but also against the right to information, freedom of expression and pluralism of the entire democratic society”, said Guillermo Fernández-Maldonado, UN-DH Representative in Mexico.
The international organization also called for an effective and exhaustive investigation of these serious attacks, considering all relevant lines of investigation, including the hypothesis of a link between the murders and the journalistic work carried out by the victims, in accordance with international standards and the Approved Protocol for the Investigation of Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression, adopted by the National Conference of Law Enforcement in October 2018.
Likewise, it was recalled that Alfonso Margarito Martínez Esquivel, assassinated outside his home in Tijuana on January 17, 2022, was a journalist with a long history of covering stories related to security and violence issues for various national and international media in Tijuana Baja California.
While José Luis Gamboa Arenas was director of the digital media Inforegio and in his work he also disseminated problems of insecurity and political issues. He was assassinated in the Port of Veracruz, on January 10, 2022.
maritza.perez@eleconomista.mx