Journalists in Mexico under threat from cartels, government and even each other

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”89329″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”Mexico-based journalist DUNCAN TUCKER writes in the spring 2017 issue on reporting in a country where news is not just repressed, it’s fabricated, and journalists face violent threats from police and cartels. ” google_fonts=”font_family:Libre%20Baskerville%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20italic%3A400%3Aitalic”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

“I hope the government doesn’t give in to the authoritarian temptation to block internet coverage and start arresting activists,” Mexican blogger and activist Alberto Escorcia told Index on Censorship magazine.

Escorcia had just received a series of threats for writing an article about recent unrest in the country. The next day the threats against him intensified. Feeling trapped and unprotected, he began making plans to flee the country.

Many people are concerned about the state of freedom of expression in Mexico. A stagnant economy, a currency in freefall, a bloody drug war with no end in sight, a deeply unpopular president at home and the belligerent Donald Trump administration freshly installed in the USA across the border, these forces are all creating a squeeze in 2017.

One of the biggest tensions is Mexico’s own president. Enrique Peña Nieto’s four years in office have brought sluggish economic growth. There has also been resurgent violence and a string of corruption scandals. In January this year his approval ratings plummeted to 12%.

But when journalists have tried to report on the president and his policies they have come under fire. For example, 2017 began with intense protests after Peña Nieto announced a 20% hike in petrol prices. Days of demonstrations, blockades, looting and confrontations with police left at least six people dead and more than 1,500 arrested. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that police beat, threatened or briefly detained at least 19 reporters, who were covering the unrest in the northern states of Coahuila and Baja California.

News was not just suppressed, it was fabricated. Mass hysteria enveloped Mexico City as legions of Twitter bots incited violence and spread false reports of further looting, causing the temporary closure of 20,000 small businesses.

“I’ve never seen Mexico City like this,” Escorcia said over the phone from his home in the capital. “There are more police than normal. There are helicopters flying above us every hour and you can hear sirens constantly. Even though there hasn’t been any looting in this part of the city, people think it’s happening everywhere.”

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Duncan Tucker is a freelance journalist, based in Guadalajara, Mexico. The rest of this article is available online here. This article is part of a series in the spring 2017 issue of Index on Censorship magazine that looks at situations where free speech is being restricted from multiple sides. You can read about all of the other content in the magazine here

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”From the Archives”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”89160″ img_size=”213×300″ alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0306422011399687″][vc_custom_heading text=”Narco tales” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.sagepub.com%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.1177%2F0306422011399687|||”][vc_column_text]March 2011

Bloggers and citizen journalists are telling the stories that the mainstream Mexican media no longer dares to report, says Ana Arana.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”89168″ img_size=”213×300″ alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064220902734319″][vc_custom_heading text=”Wall of silence” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.sagepub.com%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.1080%2F03064220902734319|||”][vc_column_text]February 2009

Analysis of the culture of intimidation facing investigative journalists in Mexico — from attacks on reporters to criminal activity.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”94760″ img_size=”213×300″ alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03064227608532576″][vc_custom_heading text=”Guessing game” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.sagepub.com%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.1080%2F03064227608532576|||”][vc_column_text]April 1983

The unpredictability of Mexican government crackdown keeps the press guessing, making them careful with what they publish. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”The Big Squeeze” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fmagazine|||”][vc_column_text]The spring 2017 issue of Index on Censorship magazine looks at multi-directional squeezes on freedom of speech around the world.

Also in the issue: newly translated fiction from Karim Miské, columns from Spitting Image creator Roger Law and former UK attorney general Dominic Grieve, and a special focus on Poland.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”88788″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/magazine”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Subscribe” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsubscribe%2F|||”][vc_column_text]In print, online. In your mailbox, on your iPad.

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#IndexAwards2016: Méxicoleaks seeks to bring more transparency to Mexico

Méxicoleaks

Méxicoleaks was launched in 2015 as a platform for people to anonymously share information leaks about anything in the public interest, including corruption, government spending and abuse. The nine organisations that make up Méxicoleaks have already run numerous corruption investigations based on leaks and broken a number of high-profile scandals.

Since President Enrique Peña Nieto came into power in 2012 intimidation, assaults and killings of journalists in Mexico have increased by 80%, with statistics saying a journalist is attacked every 26 hours in the country. Between fear of corrupt authorities and retribution from cartels, self-censorship in parts of Mexico is almost absolute.

Méxicoleaks’ aim is to bring a new kind of watchdog journalism to the country, allowing people to submit information to them anonymously.

The eight news organisations that make up Méxicoleaks are Aristegui News, PODER, Animal Politico, Emeequis, MásDe 131, Pie de Página, Proceso and R3D . Méxicoleaks makes use of open source software made available by GlobalLeaks, and all eight members of Méxicoleaks have access to the platform where they can anonymously read and verify whistleblowers’ information.

Two days after the Méxicoleaks launch, popular radio station MVS fired high-profile talk show host Carmen Aristegui, and her assistants Daniel Lizarraga and Irving Huerta for their connection with Mexicoleaks. The reporting team had recently uncovered a huge scandal involving Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto. The casa blanca (white house) scandal investigated the purchase of a multi-million dollar home from a contractor connected to a billion dollar infrastructure project.

Many noted the events acted as evidence of the need for Méxicoleaks, given the daily challenges facing even the country’s most high-profile journalists – “She has become an emblem of press freedom under siege” reported the New York Times.

Another Méxicoleaks story which broke in 2015 led to Peña Nieto admitting that the Mexican government had spent nearly a million pesos (around $60,000) on 37 hotel rooms in Brussels for a summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

Méxicoleaks have continued to receive submissions, breaking a number of high-profile corruption scandals.

Mexico must act to protect online free speech

María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, best known under the pseudonym “Felina”, was kidnapped by armed men on 15 October in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The following day a photograph of her body was posted to her Twitter account with messages warning others to be silent.

A doctor by profession, Fuentes Rubio was a contributor to the Valor por Tamaulipas citizen information service, a website that seeks to expose violence and organised crime activities in the state. She posted under the handle @Miut3, which has since been suspended by Twitter. Fuentes Rubio actively posted alerts that pinpointed the location of violent incidents in real time. Her online activities defied the media blackout imposed by drug cartels since 2010.

“The work of individuals like Fuentes Rubio is critical in an environment where the press is muzzled by organised crime groups. Her murder is yet another blow to the right to information and to freedom of expression, and highlights the risks faced by individuals in the country who are striving to expose wrongdoings,” said Index on Censorship Chief Executive Jodie Ginsberg. “Impunity for the killing of journalists and digital activists is a threat to media and online freedom. We urge the authorities to investigate the killing thoroughly to identify and bring to justice those responsible.”

This is not the first time organised crime groups have targeted journalists and citizens who use the internet to provide information on violence and criminal activities. According to Reporters Without Borders, “four netizens were murdered in Tamaulipas in 2011 for having reported on narcotraffickers’’ activities. The murders included that of María Elizabeth Macias, an influential blogger found decapitated on 24 September 2011 in Nuevo Laredo, a crime for which gangsters claimed responsibility.”

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