Officials Pose Biggest Threat to Journalists in Mexico, Group Says Agencia EFE
go to original March 20, 2014

Article 19 organized a silent march on Tuesday, March 18 in Mexico City to protest violence against journalists in the country. (Jen Robinson/Twitter)

MEXICO CITY - Public officials accounted for 60 percent of the 330 acts of aggression against journalists and media outlets documented in Mexico last year, press-freedom watchdog Article 19 says in a new report.

The first 12 months of President Enrique Peña Nieto's six-year term witnessed the largest number of attacks on journalists since 2007, according to the group, which takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaiming the right to freedom of expression.

"That it is the most violent year should frighten, worry us, but above all that it's the most violent year against the press when he have the most robust system of institutional protection," Dario Ramirez, Article 19's director for Mexico and Central America, told a press conference.

The Mexican government has several agencies whose stated mission is protecting journalists and human rights advocates, including the office of the special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression.

But in its eight years of existence, that office has yet to secure a single conviction, despite an annual budget of more than 30 million pesos ($8.2 million), Ramirez said.

Read the rest at La Prensa

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