After tweeting a call to assassinate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, two Mexican media outlets cut ties with the journalist, Ricardo Alemán

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Two Mexican media outlets have cut ties with a prominent journalist after he appeared to call on supporters of presidential hopeful Andrés Manuel López Obrador to assassinate the leftwing candidate.

Ricardo Alemán tweeted Saturday: “John Lennon was killed by a fan. Versace was killed by a fan. Selena was killed by a fan. Now’s the time chairos” – using a word many on Mexico’s right use to disparage supporters of López Obrador, candidate of the leftist Morena party in July’s election.

Within hours, the Televisa network announced it was ending its relationship with Alemán, cancelling a program airing on its news channel Foro TV. Canal Once followed suit.

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Milenio, the newspaper and news channel which that Alemán’s column, appeared to be sticking with him.

Mexicans reacted with outrage on social media, and #NoAlPeriodismoSicario (no to hitman journalism) trended on Twitter.

Alemán deleted the offending post, but later appeared defiant, tweeting: “Televisa decided to cancel its working relationship with Ricardo Aleman! I do not agree but I respect it. Every company has the right to contract whomever it sees fit! Lynching and demanding censorship have won!”

He added that his office had received threatening phone calls.

Alemán has won the country’s top journalism prize and has long covered politics. He has a history, however, of floating conspiracies, attacking victims of violence and doggedly defending the current administration of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.

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Commenting on the recent case of three film students who were abducted, murdered and then dissolved in acid, Alemán said the victims were “dummies”.

Alemán’s tweet came amid a tense election, in which Mexico’s political and business classes have openly fretted over a possible victory for López Obrador, known as Amlo.

Newspapers and television channels – many of which recieve generous government advertising contracts – have assailed him daily, comparing him to the late Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez.

At least 88 candidates, potential candidates and politicians have been murdered in Mexico since September 2017, according to the newspaper Excélsior. In 1994, Luís Donaldo Colosio, the candidate for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), was killed while campaigning in Tijuana.

López Obrador leads all polls for the 1 July election by at least double digits.