Karina Suárez, El Pais

MEXICO CITY
EnergiesNet.com 02 23 2022

The debate about violence in Mexico escalates inside the White House. The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, has asked Mexico on Tuesday for greater protection for Mexican reporters and accountability in the cases of murdered journalists. “The high number of journalists killed in Mexico this year and the continuing threats they face are worrying,” the US official said through his Twitter account. These phrases represent the first statements by a member of Biden’s Cabinet about the escalation of insecurity in the country.

In tune with the recent complaints by Democratic and Republican senators about the violence in Mexico, the head of United States diplomacy has emphasized the need for more security guarantees for Mexican communicators and has expressed his solidarity with the relatives of the five journalists murdered in this bloody beginning of the year. “I join those calling for greater accountability and protection for Mexican journalists. My heart goes out to the loved ones of those who gave their lives for the truth, ”he has declared through his Twitter account.

The high number of journalists killed in Mexico this year and the ongoing threats they face are concerning. I join those calling for greater accountability and protections for Mexican journalists. My heart goes out to the loved ones of those who gave their lives for the truth.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 23, 2022

Blinken’s messages come after two US legislators expressed their concern about the wave of violence in some regions of the country and specifically about the growing threat to the journalistic profession. Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Marco Rubio signed the letter on February 8 and assured that “López Obrador continues with a bellicose rhetoric against the press” in an environment where 95% of attacks on the press remain unpunished. In addition, they asked the Biden Administration to “work with Mexico to develop a better plan to reduce the violence that destabilizes Mexico and specifically impacts journalists.”

Republican Senator Ted Cruz also expressed his concern about insecurity in Mexican territory and specifically about the situation of vulnerability in which reporters on this side of the border work. “I am extremely concerned about the civil unrest in Mexico and the breakdown of civil society. The breakdown of the rule of law on the other side of our southern border poses a challenge to national security and dangers to the United States, on issues ranging from drug trafficking to illegal immigration,” he commented.

The politician, known in Washington for his recurring and controversial statements, directly to the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as responsible for the security crisis. In response, the Mexican ambassador to the US, Esteban Moctezuma, sent a letter to the senator in which he invited him to learn more about the reality in the country and asked him to join the fight against illegal arms trafficking in the border.

Blinken’s statements represent yet another criticism of one of the bloodiest starts to the year in Mexico. Cases such as the shooting homicide of photojournalist Margarito Martínez —riddled with bullets at the door of his house— or that of reporter Lourdes Maldonado, both in Tijuana have outraged a country accustomed to counting up to 100 homicides a day. However, the episodes of massacres, forced disappearances and homicides cover all types of professions and geography, from the north in Sonora, through Colima and Michoacán to the tourist enclaves of the Yucatan peninsula.

In January, 2,427 intentional homicides were registered in the country, according to official figures. Although the Government has assured that more operations have been implemented in these areas, the number of elements of the National Guard or the Army has not prevented the shootings in the States with the greatest presence of organized crime in the last year.

elpais.com 02 23 2022