Mexico: Journalists Protest, Demand Justice for Javier Valdez

More than a month after the murder of the renowned journalist Javier Valdez on May 15th earlier this year, journalists protested at a meeting and press conference attended by Secretary of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, continuing to demand accountability.

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A journalist from RioDoce weekly, which Valdez founded, put pressure on Osorio Chong at a press conference following a meeting that was discussing state security strategy. The journalist pried about the progress in the investigation into the murder.

Osorio Chong replied that the Attorney General's Office is investigating, “following several lines,” and “doing all types of surveys and investigations.”

He only answered two more questions before leaving the conference.

A group of journalists holding signs and banners protesting the killing of journalists were also present at the press conference and security meeting, continuing renewed waves of resistance against violence, state complicity and impunity in Mexico.

Last week, hundreds of journalists and activists descended on the streets of Sinaloa's capital city, Culiacan, and Mexico City's downtown carrying postered photos of the murdered and disappeared journalists, shouting out their names.

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A journalist also ambushed Mexican President Pena Nieto as he gave a speech, unfurling a banner saying “enough bloodshed.”

Journalists, activists, and social movements are outraged at the government's “incompetence” in addressing the widespread violence and targeted killing in Mexico, with many accusing the government investigations as being slow, and “useless.”

The vast majority of killings go unpunished in Mexico, where the government is often accused of corruption and complicity in the murder of journalists.

Javier Valdez was a prominent and highly respected journalist, who founded RioDoce weekly, was a correspondant for La Jornada and AFP, and was an author. He was noted for his investigative reporting on the drug cartel wars in Sinaloa.

According to Reporters Without Borders, in 2016 Mexico was the country with the third highest rate of journalist killings, and the highest outside of a warzone.

In 2017 alone, eight journalists have been killed.

Almost half of all journalists killed in Mexico wrote about organized crime.