(IAPA/IFEX) – On 28 October 1998, IAPA expressed concern at two recent murders of journalists in Mexico and called for investigations. Over the previous days, two journalists were killed in mysterious circumstances. They are: reporter Fernando Martínez Ochoa, from Ciudad Juárez (previously unreported on IFEX,) and Claudio Cortés García, layout editor with the Mexican edition […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – On 28 October 1998, IAPA expressed concern at two recent
murders of journalists in Mexico and called for investigations. Over the
previous days, two journalists were killed in mysterious circumstances.
They are: reporter Fernando Martínez Ochoa, from Ciudad Juárez (previously
unreported on IFEX,) and Claudio Cortés García, layout editor with the
Mexican edition of “Le Monde diplomatique” (see IFEX alert.) The two
murders bring the toll of journalists killed in Mexico in the past decade
to 25.
**New case (Martínez); for background to Cortés García murder, see IFEX
alert of 30 October 1998**
Martínez Ochoa, a journalist and currently the spokesperson of the social
development agency Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (Sedeso) was killed with
an axe around midnight on 27 October in the capital of Chihuahua. He was
found in a Sedeso-owned vehicle.
Danilo Arbilla, President of IAPA’s Press Freedom and Freedom of
Information Commission, said it is worrisome how vulnerable journalists are
in Mexico; he called on authorities to investigate these latest murders
which, regardless of the motives behind them, cast into doubt the media’s
capacity to carry out its work without feeling threatened by violence.
Arbilla underlined the importance of investigating these latest crimes and
bringing those responsible to justice, in view of the impunity in several
journalists’ killings in Mexico, including in the murder of Víctor Manuel
Oropeza. Also from Ciudad Juárez, he was killed over seven years ago; the
killing has gone unpunished.
He recalled that Mexican law and other principles endorsed by the Mexican
government (like the Chapultepec Declaration) call murder and violence
against journalists the worst and most brutal attacks on freedom of
expression and press freedom. The Chapultepec Declaration warns that “such
acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly.”
