Displaying items by tag: journalists killed

Fritz Dorilas is the eighth journalist killed this year in Haiti. There is surging gang violence, political instability and targeted attacks on the media. The capital’s increasingly powerful criminal gangs battle for control in a political vacuum after President Moise’s assassination. Haiti has security and humanitarian crises after weeks-long blockades on key petrol terminals caused electricity and water shortages that exacerbated already-high rates of hunger. His killing came shortly after Romelson Vilsaint died during a Port-au-Prince protest when police threw tear gas and opened fire on journalists demanding the release of a colleague. Mexico has been plagued by journalists’ killings since the government’s war on cartels began. It is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist: 13 had been killed by the end of August. A web of violence, corruption and impunity has plagued Mexico and despite government efforts to protect journalists, the situation has worsened.

Yessenia Mollinedo and Sheila Johana Garcia were shot on 9 May, raising the death toll of journalists this year to eleven. Mexico is the most dangerous country for media workers outside of war zones. Authorities are searching for a motive for their murder. Media rights group Reporters Without Borders are investigating the incident. Mexico’s federal government has been criticised for neither preventing the killing of journalists nor investigating them sufficiently. Although organised crime is often blamed for attacks on media workers, small-town officials and politicians with political or criminal motivations are often suspects in these crimes. Crimes against freedom of expression occur daily. It is not clear if Mollinedo or Garcia were enrolled in a federal protection programme for journalists and human rights defenders. Several of the journalists killed this year had made contact with the programme at some point. Although President Obrador promises a ‘zero impunity’ policy when investigating such slayings, he continues his regular verbal attacks against journalists critical of his administration.

A fourth journalist has been killed in Mexico in a month, drawing condemnation from freedom-of-the-press groups. Roberto Toledo, a 55-year-old lawyer, was gunned down by three men in a parking area by the law office where he worked. Three other journalists have been killed so far this year. ‘His death underscores the incredibly dangerous situation that journalists across Mexico are having to contend with as they try to go about their daily work.’ said Natalie Southwick, programme coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean for the Committee to Protect Journalists. The group condemned the attack on social media and urged Mexican authorities to investigate. Mexico has offered bodyguards and bulletproof vests to vulnerable journalists in the past, but it hasn’t been enough. Tourist drug demand is bringing cartel violence to Mexico’s most popular resorts.