By: Renee Khanna
What's happening in Mexico can be described as violence against the truth. The infuriated citizens of Mexico are taking to the streets of Tijuana to demand an end to the horrific killings of Journalists. Since 2010, over 115 journalists in Mexico have been killed, and over 90% of those murders are not prosecuted.
The murder of a photographer, who worked with media outlets, Alfonso Martínez, was set outside his home in broad daylight on January 17th in Tijuana. According to Martínez’s family members, he knew the risks that came with covering such controversial issues, but continued to cover the rising violence in the most violent city in the world. Days later, a veteran broadcast reporter who covered politics and corruption, Lourdes López, was shot and killed inside her car in Tijuana. In 2019 Lopez travelled to Mexico City to confront President Andrés López Obrado that the legal dispute with the former governor of Baja California State compromised her safety. “I fear for my life”, she told the president on live television, from then on she was supposedly under the protection of the state, with an assigned bodyguard and a panic button fitted in her home. However, neither of them stopped her from getting assassinated.
"What happened with Lourdes is something that happens very often," said Jan Hoosten from the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Journalists tell the authorities that they're in trouble, they tell them that they're receiving threats, but more often than not, the response by the Mexican government is simply silent. Nothing is done about it." Individuals all around the world are protesting against the human rights violation and impunity in Mexico whilst attacks against journalists are rising by the day. Just as protesters thought their voices were being heard, the son of a Mexican journalist was shot to death in early February in Tijuana. Individuals around the world have participated in bringing awareness and demanding justice for the lives lost through the hashtag ‘#NiSilencioNiOlvido’ which translates to ‘Neither Silence nor Forgetting’.
Democracy in Mexico lies in the hands of the journalists, and it will diminish with their deaths. Their work exposes corruption, crime and holds officials accountable, as well as brings journalists together. “It’s important for us to take care of each other, because it’s clear that the government can’t take care of us,” Alejandro Villa, a Tijuana journalist said resentfully. Journalists fear for their lives every day and take their own precautions such as travelling in groups and staying in close contact with one another due to the lack of protection given by the government. Press freedom and safety for journalists should be the top priority for the Mexican government as the future of democracy lies in the hands of the journalists.
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