Protests expected throughout Mexico over journalist murders

Cristian Carlos.

Mexico is the most dangerous country in which to practice journalism according to the United Nations and various specialized international organizations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Article 19, among others. 

Just 24 days into the year 2022, three journalists have been murdered. On Sunday, January 23, journalist Lourdes Maldonado was brutally gunned down in the city of Tijuana, Baja California. During 2021, the civil association Comunicación e Información de la Mujer (CIMAC) documented that every 38 hours a woman journalist or communicator is subjected to some type of violence for her work of communicating. 

In addition, journalists José Luis Gamboa and Margarito Martínez were killed in recent days.

In 2021, the International Press Institute (IPI) reported that Mexico reported the death of 11 journalists and media professionals in the course of their work.

According to the non-profit organization, Article 19, since 2000, 148 communicators have lost their lives derived from their journalistic work, with 2017 being the most dangerous year for the exercise of the profession; of which, 136 were men.

In just 3 years of government headed by the head of the executive branch, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 28 journalists have been murdered in his administration. Lourdes Maldonado showed up at the National Palace on March 26, 2019 to the morning press conference of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to ask for help for a labor lawsuit she recently won against the former governor of Baja California, Jaime Bonilla.

For this reason, journalists, organizations and civil society are preparing a large mobilization on January 25 in Mexico in response to the murders of journalists.

• Protests will take place in different cities in Mexico this January 25: Acapulco-19:00 hours at the Papagayo Flagpole.
• Acayucán -18:00 hours at Benito Juárez Park
• Campeche-12:00 hours at Flagpole
• Cancun 7:00 p.m. on the Esplanade of the Municipal Palace
• Chetumal 7:00 p.m. at the Explanada de la Bandera (Flag Esplanade)
• Mexico City-20:00 at the Secretaría de Gobernación (Ministry of the Interior)
• Chiapas - 7:00 p.m. in central plazas of major cities
• Chihuahua 5:00 p.m. at Government Palace
• Chilpancingo-19:00 hours at the FGE
• Colima - 6:00 p.m. at Government Palace
• Cordoba-12:00 hours at Parque 21 de Mayo
• Culiacán 5:00 p.m. at the Cathedral
• Ensenada-18:00 hours at the FGE
• Guadalajara- 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza de Armas
• Juarez - 6:00 p.m. at Plaza del periodista
• La Paz, Baja California Sur - 12:00 noon at the Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace)
• Mazatlan, 5:00 p.m. at the Malecon Paraje Rafael Buelna
• Mérida-20:00 hours at the Monumento a la Patria
• Mexicali - 6:00 p.m. at the FGE
• Monterrey-20:00 hours at the Monument to Freedom of Expression
• Morelia-20:00 hours at Melchor Ocampo Plaza
• Morelos-18:00 hours at Paloma de la paz
• Orizaba-12:00 hours at Apolinar Castillo Park
• Piedras Negras-20:00 at Teatro Hundido de la Gran Plaza
• Tijuana 5:00 p.m. at Las Tijeras
• Toluca - 5:00 p.m. at Government Palace
• Uruapan-20:00 hours at Plaza de los Mártires
• Veracruz 7:00 p.m. at the Zócalo of the city
• Xalapa - 6:00 p.m. in Plaza Lerdo

Civil society is also asked to join the conversation on social networks under the hashtags: #NiSilencioNiOlvido, #NoSeMataSeLaVerdad, #SinMasPeriodistasEnSusListas and #PeriodismoEnRiesgo.