Photo @ InfoLibre

In the month of May, just as in April, several journalists and human rights defenders were victims of attacks and murders for their activities.

On May 10th, Mothers’ Day, Miriam Elizabeth Rodriguez Martinez, was gunned down by gunmen at her home. After the kidnapping of her daughter, she had founded a group to search for missing persons in Tamaulipas.

On May 13th, seven journalists were ambushed by a group of about 100 armed men. They covered the operation that federal and state authorities initiated in San Miguel Totolapan, in the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero. They were stripped of their work equipment, cell phones and one of their units by the gunmen, who according to La Jornada, beat them and warned that if they did not hand over their belongings they would burn them with along with everything and their vehicles.

On May 15th, journalist Javier Valdez, a correspondent for La Jornada, was murdered in the capital of Sinaloa. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye, and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Edison Lanza, demanded concrete results from the Special Prosecutor’s Office Of Crimes Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE in its Spanish acronym) on the investigations into the murder of Javier Valdez.

In his preliminary report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Defenders and Journalists said that Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries to practice journalism.

For more information in Spanish:

ONU y CIDH urgen a México frenar ataques a periodistas (Milenio, 18 de mayo de 2017)

La violencia que no cesa, la protección que no alcanza(La Jornada, 16 de mayo 2017)

Grupo armado ataca a siete periodistas en Guerrero (La Jornada, 13 de mayo 2017)

Autoridades dejaron a su suerte a activista ejecutada en Tamaulipas (La Jornada, 12 de mayo 2017)

Hombres armados atacan a periodistas y les quitan su equipo de trabajo en Guerrero (Animal politico, 14 de mayo 2017)

Carta urgente para la protección de los periodistas en Guerrero (Centro de derechos humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan,18 de mayo 2017)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero : asesinan al periodista Cecilio Pineda (6 de marzo de 2017)

Guerrero: Asesinaron a periodista en Taxco (26 de abril de 2016)