Authorities have arrested 16 people for their alleged involvement in four of the murders of journalists recorded this year in Mexico, the government reported Thursday.
When presenting a balance of the actions of the State against the crimes of reporters, the Undersecretary of Security, Ricardo Mejía, said that the government has documented six homicides so far in 2022, the most recent of which was that of Armando Linares last Tuesday. in Zitácuaro (Michoacán, west).
However, organizations that defend freedom of the press, such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the local Article 19, have registered eight cases since last January.
“During this year there have been six homicides of journalists, of which at the moment there are 16 detainees,” said Mejía, without explaining the difference with the NGO figures.
During the daily conference of the Mexican president, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the undersecretary pointed out that for the murder of the photographer Margarito Martínez, perpetrated on January 17 in Tijuana (northwest), there are ten detainees, including some of the alleged masterminds.
Three more men were arrested for the crime of the reporter Lourdes Maldonado, executed on January 23 also in Tijuana, and two others for the murder of Heber López, which occurred on February 10 in Oaxaca (south).
One more man is in prison for the murder of journalist Juan Carlos Muñiz, on March 4 in Zacatecas (north).
For the cases of Linares and José Luis Gamboa – which ended on January 10 in Veracruz (east) – there are still no arrests, the official said. A previous report by López Obrador reported 17 apprehended.
In addition to these six cases, RSF has registered the murder of Roberto Toledo (January 31), a colleague of Linares on the Monitor Michoacán website, and that of Jorge Luis Camero, on February 24, two weeks after leaving office. in a mayor’s office in Sonora (north).
Linares, who had denounced threats for publishing corruption cases, refused to be included in a government program that provides protection to half a thousand journalists, Mejía recalled.
Two other Monitor Michoacán collaborators left their place of origin and were relocated by the government, added the official.
Regarding crimes against journalists committed in other years, Mejía said that this month two men were sentenced to 31 years and three months in prison for the murder of journalist José Manuel Guadalupe Castillo, which occurred on June 11, 2020 in Sonora (northwest). He did not refer to cell phones.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for the press, with nearly 150 homicides since 2000, according to RSF, which maintains that impunity in these crimes reaches 92%.
