| | |  Editorials | Issues | August 2009 
Report: 52 Mexican Reporters Killed in Last Decade
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
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August 20, 2009
| | International media watchdog groups have named Mexico the most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. | |
Mexico City — The head of Mexico's National Human Rights commission said Wednesday that 52 journalists or media workers have been killed in the last decade and that most of the slayings remain unsolved.
Seven other reporters went missing and six newspaper offices were attacked with explosives over the same period, commission president Jose Luis Soberanes said.
Soberanes didn't say who is believed to be behind the attacks on journalists, but news media have been frequent targets of Mexico's drug cartels. Some of the slain journalists were investigating drug trafficking, crime or corruption.
Only 17 cases of violence against journalists are on trial while the rest remain under investigation, he said.
"Impunity has become the hallmark of the aggressions against journalists in Mexico," Soberanes said.
Soberanes said authorities have been negligent in investigating and prosecuting the attacks. He issued recommendations to state governments, army officials and federal prosecutors to take measures to guarantee the safety of journalists covering dangerous assignments.
The recommendations come a day after gunmen shot up the offices of the Siglo de Torreon newspaper in the northern city of Torreon. The newspaper said gunmen fired assault rifles in the early morning attack, damaging the building's door and windows. Nobody was injured.
Torreon is next to the city of Gomez Palacio, where veteran crime reporter Eliseo Barron was abducted and found slain in a ditch in May. One of five suspects detained in the case told investigators that he belonged to the Zetas, a group of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel, and that Barron was killed to warn journalists against getting in the way of the gang.
Drug-related violence has claimed more than 11,000 lives in Mexico since late 2006.
Several international media watchdog groups have named Mexico the most dangerous country in the Americas for journalists. |
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