More than 140 Journalists Killed in Mexico since 2000

Since 2000 to date, 140 journalists have been murdered in Mexico, according to the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), Luis Raul Gonzalez.

Such crimes are intended to silence the freedom of expression and are a way of intimidating the members of the union, he stressed at the opening of the seminar The Work of Journalism from a Human Rights Perspective, Access to Information and the Protection of Personal Data.

'Despite the importance of journalists in reporting, they have received consequences, they are harassed, intimidated, persecuted, get phone calls at different times, their assets are being affected, their vehicles are being damaged, someone else's property is being damaged, but there is also the disappearance of communicators and, still worse, deaths,' he lamented.

The CNDH president pointed out that protection mechanisms are helpful, but do not solve the problem, so only through law enforcement and the combat against impunity in aggressions against journalists, the bases which generate the conditions to violate their rights will be attacked.

Gonzalez added that attacks on communicators continue because the vast majority remains unpunished, and those in Mexico who practice this profession are often forced to censor themselves as a result of attacks, persecution and death threats from public service personnel and organized crime.