The son of journalist Armando Linares in front of his father’s coffin in Zitacuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. MARCO UGARTE / AP
He paid dearly for it. Journalist Armando Linares was killed on Tuesday, March 15, in the state of Michoacán in western Mexico. A month and a half ago, this manager of the regional news blog Monitor Michoacan denounced the murder of one of his colleagues in a scathing video. Mr. Linares became the eighth Mexican journalist to be killed since the start of the year, a record. The massacre drew criticism from Washington and the European Parliament, which in turn provoked the ire of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (“AMLO”), accused of fomenting the vulnerability of the organized crime victim profession and elected ripoux.
“The labeling of corrupt politicians resulted in the death of one of our colleagues,” he tearfully criticized Mr. Linares in a January 31 social media post, immediately after the assassination of his associate Roberto Toledo. . “We will continue to expose corrupt officials,” he warned in a trembling voice. We have no weapons, our only defense is a pen and notebook. A video that reveals the desperation of media workers who are faced with flaws in the state mechanism for protecting journalists.
In a telling sign, Mr. Linares has refused to take advantage of the measures provided by this institution, which provides “panic buttons”, surveillance cameras and even bodyguards to journalists in danger. Mr. Linares was riddled with bullets Tuesday at his home in the drug cartels-riddled city of Zitacuaro. But in his video, the journalist rather exposed the threats from local elected officials. Widespread practice, according to press protection organization Article 19, which shows that 40% of sponsors of attacks on journalists are government officials.
Impunity for crimes
Since 2000, more than 150 media workers have been killed in Mexico. Since AMLO took over in 2018, the scourge has intensified. The eight murders recorded since January are already close to the death toll (9 killed) for all of 2021. To the point that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken posted a message of support on his Twitter account in late February to “those who demand more protection for Mexican journalists.”
Read alsoTen journalists have already been killed in Mexico since the beginning of the year
AMLO’s answer was not long in coming: “Mexico is not a colony of the United States! “Hit the centre-left president by denouncing ‘intervention’. On March 9, the European Parliament passed a resolution deploring Mexico as “the deadliest country in the world for journalists”. The text denounces impunity for press crimes, more than 90% of which are never solved. MEPs also called on AMLO to stop its “populist rhetoric”. According to them, the President of Mexico “stigmatizes and attacks the critical press (…) under the pretext of combating false information.”
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