Seventeen journalists from Tapachula, several of them national correspondents covering the migration phenomenon on the southern border, as well as the violence plaguing the region, were exposed by name and photograph on the Facebook page “Noticias Chiapas al rojo,” alleging links to organized crime gangs.
The reporters, who also include radio news anchors and photojournalists, were accused of having ties to Horacio “N,” a man nicknamed “El Botanas,” the leader of a criminal cell in the area.
Edgar Hernández, correspondent for La Jornada, and Pedro Gerardo López, correspondent for TV Azteca, both with extensive careers in professional journalism, immediately rejected the allegations on their social media channels and demanded that the authorities conduct a thorough, “real, clear, and conclusive” investigation, as their lives, as well as those of their families, are at risk.
The 17 journalists, 16 men and one woman, filed a complaint with the State Attorney General’s Office on Friday, and on Monday, March 31, they went to the Tapachula sub-delegation of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to request protection.
One day after the post, which is still active on Facebook, the Chiapas Attorney General’s Office reported that it had initiated a formal investigation into the overexposure of open sources against 17 journalists, due to their “unjustifiable links to organized crime” in the municipality of Tapachula.
The agency announced that it had established coordination with the Secretariat of Public Security to conduct a technological and scientific investigation through the cyber police to clarify the facts and determine criminal liability.
“The necessary protective measures have been issued in accordance with the Approved Protocol for the Investigation of Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression, which must be proportional to the level of risk posed by the victims due to the publication.”
Organizations documenting violence against the press urge protective actions
Organizations such as the Chiapas Journalists Forum, the Network of Women Journalists and Communicators of Chiapas, and Frontline Freelance Mexico spoke out against the defamation campaign that puts journalists in Tapachula at risk, pointing out that practicing journalism in Chiapas is already difficult, and doing so as a woman is even more so.
“We know that these types of accusations, in a context marked by structural violence and the presence of organized crime, are not minor; they are forms of violence that put lives at risk. And in Chiapas, where practicing journalism already entails a high cost, these attacks seek to sow fear, silence voices, and weaken the community ties that sustain our work,” the Network of Women Journalists and Communicators said in a statement.
Frontline Freelance Mexico joined the demands of other organizations defending press freedom and emphasized that “these types of publications, which have a clear intention to discredit and generate fear, constitute a form of violence against the press. The public stigmatization of journalists who cover sensitive topics such as human rights, security, and migration in already complex contexts can have serious consequences and put the integrity and lives of those who carry out their work with commitment and professionalism at risk.”
Source: proceso
