Mexico is breaking another tragic record.
As authorities in the state of San Luis Potosi declared that they had found the body of 23 year old journalist Edgar Daniel Esqueda, this makes a total of 11 journalists killed in 2017, already matching the record of 2016.
Mr Esqueda’s body, retrieved some 200 miles north of Mexico City, was riddled with bullets and showed signs of torture when it was found.
Young Edgar Esqueda’s family stated that he had been dragged from their home on Thursday morning by armed men wearing police uniforms. The local state attorney general’s office reported that none of their officers were involved in any abduction.
Afterwards, a small journalist protest of around 100 people was formed in San Miguel Potosí.
Mr Javier Garza, a journalist in Torreon: “It continues being a matter of impunity. After all the outrage, nothing is happening. Anybody thinking about killing or kidnapping a journalist will say, ‘If they didn’t do anything with a high-profile person like Javier Valdez, then they won’t do anything in other cases.”
According to government statistics, just in the first eight months of 2017, Mexico has registered 26,984 homicides, at 17 percent increase over the same period in 2016,
Mexico is breaking all kinds of records: the second largest country in Latin America is the world's 10th largest oil exporter, the 14th largest economy. It is a confident industrial nation and, according to Mexican authorities, the largest democracy in the Central American region. But, on the press freedom index, Mexico is way, way down, ranking 148 of 180. Journalists are hindered or killed during their reporting and jailed for unfavourable reports.
President Enrique Peña Nieto is well aware that his country has a big problem when it comes to press freedom. His cabinet introduced many reforms which have had little effect. Until the press is taken serious and the Mexican government is serious about press freedom, it might do better not referring to itself as the largest democracy in Central America.
Source:
http://www.dw.com/en/mexico-11th-journalist-killed-setting-path-for-record-breaking-year/a-40852612
