By: Jorge Meléndez Preciado. Journalists United
United Journalists. Mexico City. January 26, 2022.- The protest began, surprisingly, at López Obrador's morning conference outside the National Palace on Tuesday, January 25. That same day there were other protests in various parts of the country.
But on Tuesday 25, as never before, demonstrations were held in thirty capitals of the country's entities and in 64 cities, to demand justice for the murders of journalists (convened, among other organizations, by: Journalists United), since at the beginning of the year José Luis Gamboa was murdered in Veracruz (January 10); Margarito Montes Esquivel, Tijuana (January 17), and María de Lourdes Maldonado, again in Tijuana (January 23).
According to Article 19 (Leopoldo Maldonado) have killed 148 comrades from 2000 to date. Of them 136 men and 12 women. And there is 98 percent impunity in these matters, which shows that almost nothing is done to find out what really happened.
Emblematic cases such as those of Regina Martinez (Veracruz) and Ruben Espinosa and his four friends (Mexico City) have not had successful results, but rather there are arbitrary detentions, guilty parties who are guilty according to a justice system that is no longer convincing and paralysis or diversion of investigations.
They also did not get to the bottom of the murders of Javier Valdez (they say the Sinaloa Cartel was behind it) and Miroslava Brech (blamed on some PAN members who are still at large).
There is complacency between drug traffickers, local and some federal authorities, as their interests are often intertwined.
Thus, it is incredible that in the Mechanism for the Defense of Journalists, the decisive votes are of officials and the reporters who participate in it serve to endorse budgets that are used at the discretion of the authorities, and not for the essential: to protect reporters.
Panic buttons, alerts to the authorities, guards to colleagues (by the way, he has murdered at least six typists and several of their respective caregivers) and the complaint to the prosecutors' offices do not help much.
Lourdes was murdered arriving at her home, even though she was at a morning conference with Andrés Manuel on March 23, 2019, denouncing Jaime Bonilla, for having fired her from Primer Sistema de Noticias; the controversial politician was then owner of the business, senator and special delegate of the Presidency and would later become governor of Baja California, who wanted to uselessly extend his mandate. Maldonado's battle took almost nine years (she was fired in 2013), and a few days before she was shot by hired assassins, she went to collect what was due to her and the company did not receive her.
Bonilla has said he is willing to testify. And López Obrador pointed out that easy and unfounded conclusions should not be drawn.
According to Lourdes Maldonado's lawyer, Eduardo Perez, she had a panic button provided by the state protection mechanism, which she could not even activate.
The governor of BC, Marina del Pilar Avila Olmedo, expressed that a Special Prosecutor will be appointed to investigate the matter. This does not guarantee absolutely nothing, since the only one who has given results is Miguel Ángel García Domínguez, appointed in the case of the murder of Manuel Buendía, for several reasons.
One, there was an accompanying group of journalists who had worked with Buendía at different times, in order to know what was being done and how. Two, some colleagues had support and financing to make inquiries on their own. Three, pressure was put on federal and state authorities by various means. And four, events were held every month (May 30) at the monument to Francisco Zarco in the then Federal District in order not to let the flame of hope be extinguished.
It is time to mobilize and join forces. Salvador Frausto is right: we journalists need to organize ourselves to demand better salaries and working conditions and to avoid so many deaths, as well as to prevent impunity for the crimes of our colleagues.
jamelendez44@gmail.com
@jamelendez44
Visit the site of Journalists United
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