A 2021 report by the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the system, put convictions for the killings of journalists at about 89 percent. The report found that local public servants were the biggest source of violence against journalists, ahead of organized crime.
“You would think the biggest enemy would be armed groups and organized crime,” said journalist Patricia Mayorga, who fled Mexico after a corruption investigation. “But really it is the relationships between those groups and state officials that are the problem.”
Many of the Mexican journalists killed worked for small, independent, digital outlets that sometimes published only on Facebook, Irazoc said, adding that their stories dug deep into local political issues.
Mexico’s National Association of Mayors (ANAC) and its National Conference of Governors (Conago) did not respond to requests for comment about the role of state and local governments in the killings of journalists or allegations of corrupt ties to crime groups.
President López Obrador often pilloried the press, calling out journalists critical of his administration and holding a weekly segment in his daily news conference dedicated to “the lie of the week”. He condemns the killings, while accusing opponents of talking of violence to discredit him.
Erzok says he has no evidence that the president’s verbal attacks have led to violence against journalists. A spokesman for López Obrador did not respond to a request for comment.
“What kind of life is this?” said journalist Rodolfo Montes, looking at security footage from inside his home, where the system, which he first christened in 2017, has cameras with eyes on the garage, the street and the entrance.
Years ago, a cartel fired a bullet under the door as a threat, and he’s been on edge ever since. A whole collection of threats spanning a decade sat in the box corner. Looking at his phone after his 24-year-old daughter was threatened by a cartel just days earlier, he said, “I’m alive, but I’m dead, you know?”