Claudia Guerrero
Reform Agency
Tuesday, May 02, 2023 | 20:05
Mexico City.- After acknowledging that journalists and human rights defenders are going through a difficult time, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, spokesman for the Presidency, warned that, in Mexico, activists are pressured by criminal groups and economic power to take control of community resources.
“The situation of human rights defenders, of journalists, is going through difficult times, especially in many regions, because they affect interests of all kinds, political, economic, criminal in nature,” he said.
“Today, there is pressure on human rights activists and defenders, because there is pressure on the territory, on natural resources, particularly water, forests and minerals, and here transnational interests, economic interests and international interests are combined. of criminal groups”.
The federal official referred to the issue during the launch of the national campaign “Facing freedom,” which aims to raise awareness about the role played by defenders and journalists in society.
In the same meeting, the Undersecretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, warned about the siege facing activists, in the presence of organized crime and powerful mining companies.
“We still have problems with rights defenders, who, particularly in the territory, in defense of indigenous communities, in defense of natural resources, land, water, the fight against abuses of concessions mining companies, continue to face daily boss groups that intend to appropriate the territory,” he denounced.
In front of representatives of the UN, the European Union and the National Human Rights Commission, he considered the dose of intolerance expressed in the attacks and murders of journalists and defenders worrying.
“Unfortunately, the sign that prevails in the attacks, in the questioning, in the homicide of people dedicated to journalism or the defense of human rights, is the dose of intolerance, which is expressed very clearly as part of a culture institution that does not understand the importance of exercising freedom of expression,” he said.
Encinas recalled that, before President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered to combat and punish attacks against journalists, the level of impunity was higher than 93 percent.
“Fortunately, with these actions that have been recently undertaken, all the murders of journalists committed last year have been clarified, we have most of the perpetrators under legal proceedings and this year we have not registered any murders of journalists,” he added.
From lawsuit to campaign
The campaign, with the slogan “Facing freedom, for a Mexico where expression is free and not silenced,” was launched on Tuesday by the federal government, in collaboration with the UN and the European Union.
In March 2022, the Government of Mexico and the European Parliament staged a public confrontation, precisely related to the risks that journalists face to carry out their work in the national territory.
On that occasion, Parliament determined that Mexico was the deadliest place for journalists outside of an official war zone.
“The rhetoric of abuse and stigmatization creates an environment of incessant agitation against independent journalists,” he warned.
In response, the Presidency issued a statement, drafted by Cuevas, in which the European deputies were accused of acting like sheep, coup leaders and interventionists.
“It is unfortunate that they join the reactionary and coup strategy of the corrupt group like sheep. Mexico is a pacifist country, we do not send weapons to any country, as you are doing now,” said the Presidency.
