Mexico: IFJ condemns murder of two journalists
The NUJ has joined the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in condemning the murders of Mexican journalists and calling for immediate investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice.
On 2 June Roxana Guzmán Ramírez, director of Pulso Informativo del Sureste, was kidnapped from her home in Nanchital, Veracruz by an armed commando. The abduction was captured in a video showing a group of hooded men breaking the door and entering her home.
After weeks of no news on her whereabouts, authorities confirmed on 3 July that she had been murdered and that her burned remains were found on a ranch in Moloacán.
Guzmán Ramírez returned to Nanchital last year to resume her journalism career after leaving the region following the murder of her husband, Carlos Fernández Escalante, in 2017.
Together with the Federation of Journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean (FEPALC) and Mexico’s National Union of Press Editors (SNRP), the IFJ has demanded an independent and transparent investigation to find those responsible for Guzmán Ramírez’s murder. The unions have also expressed concern over the arrest of four police officers accused of providing logistical support to the criminal group responsible for the killing.
On the same day Guzmán Ramírez’s murder was confirmed, the Guerrero State Human Rights Commission (CDHEG) confirmed that a body found on 22 June was Manuel Alejandro Moreno Serna, publicly known as Alex Serna.
Serna was an independent citizen journalist and environmental activist who went missing two days earlier. His body was discovered inside a dairy farm on the side of the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo federal highway.
The IFJ said that the murder followed months of threats linked to his reporting. Earlier this year, Serna had shared screenshots of death threats from anonymous accounts that claimed to know his location.
Serna had recently published a high-profile video where he denounced an ecocide in Casa Cantiles (Zihuatanejo) and highlighted the harassment of the construction company Hujal. His last transmission on 20 June - the day he disappeared - documented the alleged theft of water and contamination in La Saladita.
The IFJ has joined the SNRP in urging Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office to take over the investigation into Serna’s murder and has called for immediate protection for his family, as well as an investigation into the companies Serna publicly denounced before his disappearance.
The killings highlight the extreme dangers faced by journalists in Mexico and the need to strengthen protection to uphold press freedom.
Santiago Ortíz, FEPALC president, said:
“Mexico continues to be the riskiest country for the practice of journalism in the continent, and for this reason, we demand that all the necessary protocols be activated to protect those who carry out the work of informing, against the violence of criminal and power groups. From all over Latin America and the Caribbean, we extend our solidarity and reaffirm the defense of freedom of expression as a fundamental pillar of democracy.”