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NGOs Blame Mexico Officials for Most Attacks on Journalists
 Agence France-Presse
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February 11, 2010
| | The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign recently classified Mexico as the second most dangerous country for journalists. | |
Mexico City Some two-thirds of attacks on journalists in Mexico last year were carried out by the authorities, and less than 10 percent by criminal groups, two rights groups said Wednesday.
Eleven journalists were killed last year in Mexico, and 244 were attacked, according to a study by the Mexican Cencos rights group and Article 19, a British group promoting freedom of expression.
"We thought criminal organizations had made Mexico into the second most dangerous country for media workers, but it seems that 65.6 percent of attacks were committed by public officials," Cencoss Ricardo Rafael told reporters.
Security forces were responsible for six out of 10 of those attacks, and other officials for the rest, according to Cencos director Brisa Solis.
Soldiers participating in a government clampdown on criminal organizations, powered by some 50,000 security forces, are under fire from rights groups for alleged abuses.
Authorities meanwhile blame organized crime often undertaken by the country's powerful drug gangs for more than 15,000 deaths in the last three years, including attacks on journalists.
But Cencos and Article 19 said criminal organizations were responsible for only 6.15 percent of attacks on journalists last year.
The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign recently classified Mexico as the second most dangerous country for journalists, after the Philippines and ahead of Somalia. |
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