López Obrador, among Latin American presidents who harass journalism the most: Inter-American Press Association

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) spoke out against the harassment of journalists in Latin America by governments, mainly Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and El Salvador.

In presenting the findings of its mid-year meeting, IAPA concluded that “Presidents Nayib Bukele, of El Salvador; Jair Bolsonaro, from Brazil; Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from Mexico, and Alberto Fernández, from Argentina, are the most harassing journalism “.

He also underlined that “in Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, El Salvador and Nicaragua, the governments use government media and social media to discredit journalists“.

The Inter-American Press Association clarified that despite the work offered by the communicators, with the power they continue to discredit and stigmatize journalism, using their social networks or government tools.

As he pointed out, these actions affect freedom of expression and put journalists at risk of attack.

“On the side of political power, progress continues to discredit and stigmatize the exercise of journalism, generating a hostile climate which can degenerate into concrete violent actions against the media and journalists”, he stressed.

SIP condemned the murder of eight journalists in the exercise of their profession: Jaime Castaño, Israel Vázquez, Jesús Alfonso Piñuelas and Arturo Alba Medina (Mexico)by Andrés Felipe Guevara (Colombia), Efraín Ruales (Ecuador), Mario Ortega (Guatemala) and Pedro Arcángel Canelas (Honduras); as good as disappearance by Pablo Romero Chávez, also from Mexico.

The IAPA called on the governments of Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras to fulfill their “responsibility to identify all responsible for the killings and disappearances”.

Worrying, escalating attacks on media and journalists by the Mexican president

Regarding the case of Mexico, the Inter-American Press Association described in its report as worrying “The escalation of attacks on the media and journalists by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in a polarized environment, in the face of the elections and with a pandemic that has not been brought under control”.

AIPA stressed that “in the midst of a growing health and economic crisis, and with the setbacks of its major ‘transformation projects’, President López Obrador has positioned the media as the enemy to be defeated. From the most important public space in the country, a daily morning conference, broadcast on television, YouTube and other social networks, constantly attacks, with a speech full of disqualifications, the media and journalists ”.

The organization highlighted the fact that López Obrador shows on large screens the covers of newspapers that his editorial line corrects “while applauding other media that support his words and actions. Some journalists reinforce what the president wants to say, even against colleagues present. In addition, there are attacks by bot armies which criticize, threaten and insult any critical voice, ”the report underlines.

“The central thesis of the president and his cabinet is that the media are part of neoliberalism, that they do colonizing journalism and have left behind simple terms such as the press of fifteen. There are no bona fide criticisms for the president, but malicious opinions to stain his government work and him personally. “, detailed IAPA.

The organization pointed out that only certain media are saved from these attacks because they are linked to the government, such as the newspaper The day and television Azteca TVThe latter, underlines the IAPA, is part of “another allied company in the distribution of popular subsidies (Banco Azteca), which are the central axis of its social policy”.

IAPA recalled that the organization Article 19 He was attacked by López Obrador, whom he accused of having foreign funding.

He pointed out that the Mexican chapter of article 19 presented its report in March, concluding that “Two years after the start of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the dynamics of press stigmatization, censorship, violation of human rights and the weakening or abandonment of the institutions created to counterbalance power persist . “

The report entitled “Distortion: the discourse against reality”, have shown that In 2020, government disinformation continued, an attempt to control and censor the internet, and 692 attacks on journalists were recorded..

The US State Department presented its report on human rights violations which includes journalist Sanjuana Martínez, director of the state news agency Notimex, as the cause of wanting to silence journalists, according to the observations of the organization which defends freedom of expression and the right to information.

Therefore, López Obrador disagreed with the US opinion on the matter and accused Article 19 of being “a foreign-backed body, all people who have to do with Article 19 belong to the conservative movement which is against our own ”, he declared. .

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