The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ruled that Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world to practice journalism, even more so than Iraq. Photo: Courtesy.

Héctor Ruiz Mejía (Chapala).- jJurnalists all over Mexico demonstrated last Tuesday 25th with «rage and indignation» to demand justice from the Mexican Government, reacting in part to the the murder of TV jouralist María Lourdes Maldonado Alconada

Lourdes Maldonado, who was shot in the head outside her home in Tijuana on January 23rd, was the third journalist to become a victim of violence in 2022, along with Margarito Martínez Esquivel and José Luis Gamboa.

Journalists from all over the country demonstrated in 28 different public rallies in 23 states, including Jalisco, to demand justice to practice the profession in Mexico.

They condemned the 148 murders of people dedicated to the profession of communication from 2000 to date, the precarious working conditions, and the government’s inability to guarantee their right to freedom of expression.

The demonstrators recalled Lourdes Maldonado, who notified the state and federal governments that she «feared for her life» after winning a labor lawsuit against Jaime Bonilla, former governor of Baja California.  Before she could celebrate the victory, she was assassinated.

Since 2000, 136 men and 12 women journalists have been murdered in Mexico. Photo: Courtesy.

This protest highlighted the government’s lack of response and capacity to guarantee the safety of journalists in Mexico.  It called attention to the journalists who have been murdered, raped, disappeared and forced to be displaced from their homes for the simple act of reporting.

The group Comunicación e Información de la Mujer (CIMAC), an independent organization of journalism and investigation with a feminist perspective, said that every 36 hours, a woman is a victim of violence for practicing journalism.

«The murder of a woman journalist should touch the most sensitive fibers of all social levels, of a place where the social fabric has been broken,” proclaimed the protesting journalists.

Finally, they also demanded regulation from government authorities and the business sector.  They want prompt and effective reaction strategies that «allow us not to die in the attempt to practice our profession.”

The conditions in which most journalists throughout the country work are precarious, and they stated that too many media «pocket millionaire profits» and described the conditions as exploitation.

Translated by Nita Rudy