Guanajuato’s Journalists made a call on Sunday April 2nd to stop the attacks against journalists and to ask authorities to guarantee their work in an atomosphere of security, tranquility and justice. The demands come after the murders of several journalists in various states of the country during the last months.
At least 40 communicators gathered on the steps of the “Teatro Juárez” in Querétaro and chanted: “No more assaults, no more murdered journalists”.
One of the participants was Journalist Karla Silva, who was beaten in front of “El Heraldo de León” premises in 2014 by two subjects who allegedly were acting on orders from police chiefs and the former mayor of Silao, Enrique Benjamín Solís Arzola.
Silva said that the authorities do nothing, don’t hear journalists’ demands, as if nothing happened, no violence exists against journalists. Then, she showed several images and names of the journalists killed in March 2017: Mirolsva Breach, in Chihuahua; Cecilio Pineda, in Guerrero, and Ricardo Monlui, in Veracruz.
Karla Silva’s forehead bears two scars, resulting from the attack of which she was victim on 4 September.
The communicator pointed out that “It is a demand to stop the impunity that prevails in Guanajuato, which dominates in Mexico, so we have to show to society that this happens, we have to raise our voices and we can’t pretend as nothing is going on”.
Reporters, correspondents, photographers, cameramen and columnists met with activists and human rights defenders to demand justice for the case of the journalist Gilberto Navarro.
Navarro, AM newspaper journalist, suffered serious injuries after Rodríguez Rocha, an official of the Municipal Economic Development Secretariat, allegedly ran him over with his car, while he was riding his motorcycle on the San Miguel – Dolores Hidalgo highway.
They also demanded the approving and execution of “the Law on Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists” (Ley de Protección a Defensores de Derechos Humanos y periodistas), promoted by communicators in the previous and current Legislature, after the attack against the journalist Karla Silva.
Arnoldo Cuéllar, director of Zona Franca digital newspaper, mentioned that deputies have sent a message of impunity stating they have not approved any regulation on the matter.
“The politicians are absolutely insensitive to this situation that suffer every day the journalists, and it is very serious what is happening in the country with the governors, who are a kind of feudal lords who try to intimidate journalists”, he said.
Cuéllar continued: “In Guanajuato violence is not so serious for journalists, but now it is beginning to be. So it is time to stop it, we should not wait for very serious things to happen”.
It is very delicate the case of Karla Silva, because it is not possible that a mayor who represented a whole community, made a plot to attack a journalist because he did not like her articles, because she did not pay homage.
The journalists only request the authorities give the guarantees to do their work in peace and calm, said the correspondents Carlos García and Verónica Espinosa, from “La Jornada” newspaper and “Proceso” magazine, respectively.
The journalists demanded that President Enrique Peña Nieto, the Attorney General of the Republic and governors carry out the proper investigations to find the intellectual and material authors of the murders of journalists.
Cuéllar concluded by stating that the State’s Attorney for Human Rights, Raúl Montero, has not given a message on the issue. During last six months, he has shown an attitude as he is not autonomous, that he does not know the subject of human rights and that he is not brave to represent the social interests.
Source: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx
