Mexico journalists protest murder of 3 colleagues in 5 days

Mexico City, May 9 (EFE).- Several dozen journalists marched in Mexico City on Monday to protest violence against media in the country.

Three journalists have been killed in Mexico in the last five days, two of them on Monday, taking the toll to 11 this year.

“It is a really serious, critical situation that we are experiencing in Mexico today,” Adriana Urrea, president of SutNotimex, the union of state news agency Notimex, told EFE.

The demonstration took place at the iconic roundabout of the Angel of Independence monument.

Several organizations had called a march to protest the murder of journalist Luis Enrique Ramírez.

Ramírez was shot Thursday in Culiacán city, capital of the state of Sinaloa, in the northwest of the country.

A few minutes before the march began, the Veracruz State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that journalists Yesenia Mollinedo and Sheila Johana García had been shot dead on Monday around 3 pm in Cosoleacaque municipality of southern Veracruz.

According to the authorities, both were inside their vehicle parked outside a grocery store when armed men arrived at the scene and shot them.

The protesters chanted slogans for justice and demanded an effective resolution of the cases and a halt to the continuous attacks on the media.

Juan Vazquez, communication officer of the Article 19 non-profit, said one journalist was killed every 15 days on an average far this year.

Vazquez said they were waiting for the government to change its denial mode.

“We do not see recognition of journalistic work and what we are losing as a society is our right to information,” Vazquez said.

The protesters pointed out that the actions of President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who makes almost daily attacks on the media and journalists, were making journalists more vulnerable.

According to figures from Article 19, there have been 1,945 attacks against journalists in the country since Lopez Obrador arrived in power in December 2018.

These include 35 murders, 11 so far this year. EFE

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