Fabiola Martinez and Roberto Garduno
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday, February 18, 2022, p. 5
With a report on the progress of various investigations, the federal government addressed the repeated demand for justice for the murdered journalists, two of which occurred in Tijuana this year.
Given the suspicion that former Governor Jaime Bonilla was involved in the murder of Lourdes Maldonado, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded at the morning press conference: There is nothing to suggest that this murder was linked to a labor dispute between the deceased and Governor Bonilla.
although he later asked that the results of the investigation be awaited and, in the meantime, that summary trials, public lynchings and politicking be avoided.
The Baja California reporters present in the morning told the president – in the voice of a communicator – “our union is very hurt, as in all of Mexico, we work under the shadow of being attacked and killed for doing our job and that the crimes that are committed against us are not clarified.
Here, from Tijuana, where we buried two of our colleagues, Margarito Martínez and Lourdes Maldonado, in less than a week, we will not stop demanding justice because the truth is not killed by killing journalists.
They immediately mentioned, by way of homage so that they are not forgotten
the names of the five colleagues assassinated in 2022: José Luis Gamboa, Margarito Martínez Esquivel, Lourdes Maldonado, Roberto Toledo and Héber López.
Around 200 people were outside, including media workers, who tried – unsuccessfully – to talk to the president.
Earlier, at the conference, the President responded that he will not act indolently.
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, stated that if there has not been a public hearing on the Maldonado case it is because of the risk of one of the witnesses, especially
which does not mean a discretionary measure of the Public Ministry, but for reasons of due process.
On the other hand, the President admitted that it is necessary to review the protection mechanism for journalists and human rights defenders.
Faced with the reporters’ insistent question about the motive for Margarito’s murder and whether it was a local criminal group, the Undersecretary of Security, Ricardo Mejía, replied: yes, (that is) one of the lines of investigation, and soon it will be known. who is it about.
The undersecretary pointed out that there are three material authors who participated in Maldonado’s homicide, identified as Erick, Guillermo and Kevin, but he is targeting another subject that will be the key to the issue of intellectual authorship
.
The official also referred to the detainees in the case of the murder of Héber López, from Oaxaca; María Elena Ferral, from Veracruz, Julio Valdivia, and Jacinto Romero, and Fredy López, from Chiapas.
Miroslava Breach and Javier Valdez cases
Then, when taking up information from the Attorney General’s Office, he summarized the situation regarding other crimes, such as that of Javier Valdez, a correspondent for the daywhich occurred in May 2017, in Sinaloa, and Miroslava Breach, also a correspondent for this newspaper, murdered in March 2017 in Chihuahua.
(With information from Mireya Cuéllar, The Baja California Journey)
