Murders, imprisonment and violence: Threats to press freedom grow in Latin America
CNN
At least five journalists were killed in Mexico last year, dozens have been arrested in Cuba and Venezuela, and others exiled from Nicaragua. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
At least five journalists were killed in Mexico last year, dozens have been arbitrarily arrested in Cuba and Venezuela, and others forced to flee Nicaragua due to harassment. These are just the tip of the iceberg of the challenges faced by many media workers in Latin America, where experts say the status of press freedom is increasingly worrisome. In a report published in March, Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) defined Mexico as “the most dangerous country for the press in the Western Hemisphere”. In an interview with CNNE, Francisco Cobos, a Mexican-American journalist for Univision, recounted his attempted kidnapping by armed men in Tamaulipas on April 26. They forced him to stop his car, pointed a gun at him and tried to force him into an alley. Miraculously he managed to flee. “There is no longer a place where you are safe,” said Cobos. Since he resides in McAllen, Texas, Cobos filed a complaint there and not in Mexico. Upon learning of the incident, the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to offer him protection. According to the CPJ report, Mexico has “the highest number of missing journalists in the world” with at least 15 professionals in 2023. According to the rights group Article 19, in 2023 a total of 561 aggressions against the press have been registered in the country and the murders of five journalists. According to the same organization, at least 43 journalists have been killed during the administration of López Obrador, 47 during the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto and 48 during the administration of former President Felipe Calderón.
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