"Justice is Still Absent " Says CPJ of Journalist Killings

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article

Reporter: Enrique Mendoza HernándezMonday, 8 May, 2017 12:00 PM

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists presented the report :  "Without Excuse: Mexico must break the cycle of impunity in murders of Journalists". Enrique Peña Nieto urged in Los Pinos to "publicly commit to address impunity in crimes against freedom of expression, commit to resolve these crimes and give priority to the security and protection of journalists on the agenda of his government during the remainder of his term".

The lack of justice in the murder of journalists in Mexico is one of the conclusions in which the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) insisted when presenting on May 3, 2017, in the port of Veracruz, the report entitled: "Without Excuse: Mexico must break the cycle of impunity in murders of journalists".

"Impunity is the norm," said Carlos Lauría, senior coordinator of CPJ's Americas program in an interview with ZETA on Thursday, May 4.

"The report reveals some of the shortcomings of the criminal justice system, in fact it has not been able to respond to the increasing volume of murder cases," he added.

86 percent impunity

The CPJ begins its report "Without Excuse: Mexico must break the cycle of impunity in murders of journalists" with three particular cases of murders of communicators that reflect the general impunity in the country; among them the murder of José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, found beheaded on January 24, 2015, 25 kilometers east of Medellín de Bravo in the State of Veracruz; he was editor of the newspaper the Union and had been kidnapped on the 1st of January of the same year in his house of Medellín de Bravo.

Then there was the case of Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, a freelancer, who collaborated with local newspapers Liberal del Sur, La Red y Notisur, from Villa Allende, a town near the city of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; he was kidnapped on February 5, 2014 and killed between the 6th and 12th of February of that year.

The CPJ documents the case of Marcos Hernández Bautista, who died on January 21, 2016 because of shots received in the head; since 2008 he had begun to collaborate with News, Voice and Image of Oaxaca .

"A former police chief of Santiago Jamiltepec was sentenced in March 2017, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder. But, like most journalist murders in Mexico, the mastermind behind the murder has not been arrested, and after more than a year, the Hernández case has not been fully resolved, " CPJ reports.

"None of the cases were solved in its entirety," warned Carlos Lauría.

"The title of the report is clear. We took three cases where there are suspects identified, where there are detainees, alleged perpetrators and yet there are no convictions; the reasons are not clearly explained and this is a pattern in all these cases of murders of journalists in Mexico", he added.

These three cases are emblematic, since Oaxaca and Veracruz are "the most lethal Mexican states": in the first, five journalists were killed and four in the second, only from January 2010 to April 15, 2017, according to the CPJ investigation.

The New York-based Committee concludes that between 1992 and April 15, 2017, at least 40 journalists have been killed in the exercise of their reporting, highlighting the fact that 86 per cent of dead communicators prevail in "absolute impunity", in addition to 13 communicators remain missing.

" How has the percentage of impunity changed in the murder of journalists in the Fox, Calderón and Peña Nieto sexenniums, or is there any difference or improvement in any case?, inquired ZETA .

"According to the index of impunity, when CPJ began to publish it according to the cases that we had in the index of impunity, let us say that it has actually increased in Mexico; and that is perhaps a product of a spiral of cases in recent times; in 45 days, this year, four journalists were killed (Cecilio Pineda Brito, Ricardo Monlui Cabrera, Miroslava Breach and Maximino Rodríguez Palacios).

"That is, violence against journalists in Mexico is an endemic problem, which remains constant; the majority of cases, including those where progress has been made, conflict with this pattern of impunity and lack of justice. "

CPJ also states that 63% of the 40 murdered journalists documented by the Committee "are suspected of belonging  to criminal gangs," and 95% of journalists have been killed because of their investigative work "is local."

In addition to the 40 riddled communicators, the document also concludes that in 50 additional cases the CPJ is investigating to determine if the journalistic work was the reason:

"There is more than one possible motive there, but the lack of exhaustive, credible, timely and rigorous investigations makes many of these cases remain in impunity, in the shadow," Carlos Lauría told ZETA .

"The fight against impunity must be a priority for the Mexican government"

In the report, Carlos Lauría, senior coordinator of the CPJ's Americas program, also pointed out that the fight against impunity should be a priority for the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, at least for the remainder of his bloody six years:

"Violence linked to drug trafficking and organized crime has made Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the world to exercise journalism. Since 2010, CPJ has documented more than 50 cases of journalists and media workers killed or missing. In virtually all cases of journalists killed in direct reprisal for their information work, justice is still absent and impunity remains the norm.

"Mexico's impunity score has more than doubled since 2008, when CPJ released the first edition of the Impunity Index. But despite publicly condemning violence against the press, President Peña Nieto, whose term will be completed in just over a year, has done little to ensure that his legacy includes eradicating this endemic problem. "

Lauría lamented the absence not only of investigation, but of convictions in the case of murder of journalists, despite the creation of the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE):

"Sentences in the murder cases of journalists are unusual and when dictated - as in the case of a former police chief sentenced in March to a 30-year prison sentence for murdering journalist Marcos Hernández Bautista of Oaxaca , whose case is discussed in this report, are often confined to the perpetrator and the authorities fail to determine the motive for the crime.

"By not determining a clear link to journalistic activity or providing any grounds for the killings, most of the investigations remain surrounded by opacity. This lack of accountability perpetuates a climate of impunity that leaves journalists in a situation of vulnerability to attacks, "concluded Carlos Lauría.

CPJ's recommendations to EPN

Finally, the report "Without Excuse: Mexico must break the cycle of impunity in murders of journalists" was delivered to President Enrique Peña Nieto on Thursday, May 4, 2017 in Los Pinos, in the presence of Secretary of the Interior Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, and the Attorney General of the Republic, Raul Cervantes.

It should be noted that the report includes a section on "Recommendations", specifically addressed to Enrique Peña Nieto:

1. "Commit publicly to address impunity in crimes against freedom of expression, commit to resolving these crimes and give priority to the security and protection of journalists on the agenda of his government during the remaining period of his mandate."
2. "Use the full powers of the office to ensure that all citizens, including members of the media, can exercise the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in Articles 6 and 7 of the Constitution."
3. "Ensure that federal law enforcement officials take responsibility for all attacks against the press that occur in their respective jurisdictions and instruct federal officials to investigate these cases comprehensively, prosecute perpetrators, and have them They carry the full weight of the law. "
4. "Use their influence to ensure that the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) has sufficient authority and resources to effectively enforce the law."
5. "Ensure that the protection mechanism provides effective assistance to journalists at risk and strengthens prevention to prevent deadly attacks."

"What is CPJ's expectation for the remainder of Enrique Peña Nieto's 20-month term in terms of the Federal Government's at least investigating and combating impunity for the murder of journalists?"

"It is precisely one of the things that the President has promised and we will obviously continue to monitor the follow-up of murder cases and investigations, and the possibility of convictions in these cases. The President promised to prioritize impunity in cases of murders of journalists, to prioritize the issue of protection of journalists. We want to express that this is something we have been insisting on for a long time, that is why the title of the report, 'breaking the cycle of impunity', and well, that is something we expect to monitor and obviously can be fulfilled.