Reforma: Carmen Aristegui F.*
Translated by Alexander Graham
Following the scathing report released the day before yesterday by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) an official response was expected, including comments on the harsh realities brought to light by the report which have lodged Mexico in such critical condition. In lieu of acknowledging the issues at hand, they instead listed policies they had already implemented, and what they planned to do in the face of such serious issues. The Mexican government chose to adopt the most ridiculous and shameful standpoint possible: that of an ostrich with its head in the sand.
The Government’s irate response demonstrates its dangerous transition towards a withdrawal from reality. It has created its own little bubble through which it sees a diametrically different reality from the one that millions of Mexicans see, live and suffer through.
The joint official response issued the day before yesterday by the Secretariat of Government Relations (SEGOB), the Attorney General's Office (PGR), and the Secretariat of Foreign Relations (SRE) is one of the worst symptoms of the serious crisis this report describes and one that the Federal Government refuses to acknowledge.
The report details the human rights situation in Mexico at the time of the Commissions monitor and their visit here last year. It highlights the issues of disappearances, unlawful executions, torture, civil insecurity, access to justice, and of course, the rampant impunity.
The official response states:
“The Mexican State is emphatic in its assertion that in our country there is not a human rights crisis.”
It takes great nerve for someone to make such a bold statement without blushing. Ayotzinapa, Tlatlaya, Tanhuato, and Apatzingán to name but a few, are all part of a reality that won’t change if it is denied.
They have swept under the carpet 26,798 of their own citizens, who have been declared either disappeared or “not found”. While it is true that they did propose legislative bills on torture and disappearances which are before Congress, and they did publish protocols, and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) did create a Special Prosecutors Office for Missing Persons, this does not mean, in real terms, that they might have overcome such a serious issue.
Indeed, a great part of the Mexican population are still affected by the unsolved cold cases and those still under investigation and only a few days ago we heard of the tragedy in Tierra Blanca. The same things keep happening: people are detained by the state police, who then later admit to having delivered youngsters into the hands of organized crime who, in turn, proceeded to kill them and tried to make them disappear by feeding them to machines that grind them into dust. If these incidents, in which police play a direct role – and who knows how many more colluding parties are involved -, don’t exemplify a sinister part of a major crisis, what then, would need to happen before the government acknowledges what’s going on?
The report covers issues which, for human rights advocates, have entered into a critical stage: women, indigenous, migrants, girls and boys turned into commodities, and it also addresses the murders, assaults and persecutions against journalists. This
Included in the 241 page document, is an account of what happened to a group of journalists in which I was involved, who, almost a year ago, were subjected to a crudely orchestrated censorship blow from the highest levels. Without going into too much detail, because it would take up too much space, allow me to reproduce a portion of what it says:
Reforma only allows subscribers to access articles online
*Carmen Aristegui F. is a journalist. A graduate of the UNAM, she is a radio and TV host and commentator. A lecturer and author of books, she has been awarded the National Journalism Award, the Iberoamerican Prize, the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, and the Order of the Legion of Honor by the French Government. She is a Reforma columnist and moderator of the program "Aristegui" on CNN in Spanish. She directs the web portal Aristegui News. Until early March 2015, she was director of the First Edition (morning program) of MVS News (radio).
They have swept under the carpet 26,798 of their own citizens, who have been declared either disappeared or “not found”. While it is true that they did propose legislative bills on torture and disappearances which are before Congress, and they did publish protocols, and the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) did create a Special Prosecutors Office for Missing Persons, this does not mean, in real terms, that they might have overcome such a serious issue.
Indeed, a great part of the Mexican population are still affected by the unsolved cold cases and those still under investigation and only a few days ago we heard of the tragedy in Tierra Blanca. The same things keep happening: people are detained by the state police, who then later admit to having delivered youngsters into the hands of organized crime who, in turn, proceeded to kill them and tried to make them disappear by feeding them to machines that grind them into dust. If these incidents, in which police play a direct role – and who knows how many more colluding parties are involved -, don’t exemplify a sinister part of a major crisis, what then, would need to happen before the government acknowledges what’s going on?
The report covers issues which, for human rights advocates, have entered into a critical stage: women, indigenous, migrants, girls and boys turned into commodities, and it also addresses the murders, assaults and persecutions against journalists. This
“…has turned Mexico into what is now considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist.”According to information compiled by the UN Office of the Special Rapporteur for Expression of Freedom (RELE), between 2010 and 2015 over 55 journalists were murdered, but according to National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the number could be as high as 107.
Included in the 241 page document, is an account of what happened to a group of journalists in which I was involved, who, almost a year ago, were subjected to a crudely orchestrated censorship blow from the highest levels. Without going into too much detail, because it would take up too much space, allow me to reproduce a portion of what it says:
“In 2015, another example of attacks on the press allows an insight into the complex backdrop of practicing journalism, not only because of the risk of aggression and threats but also certain incidents such as what happened to the journalist Carmen Arestigui. She discovered an alleged case of corruption implicating the high authorities in the purchase of a luxurious home in which the President of the Republic lived. After subsequent investigations, the journalist and her team were dismissed by the parent company of the radio station with which they were contracted, despite there being high viewing ratings”.And that’s how things went down, pure and simple.
Reforma only allows subscribers to access articles online
*Carmen Aristegui F. is a journalist. A graduate of the UNAM, she is a radio and TV host and commentator. A lecturer and author of books, she has been awarded the National Journalism Award, the Iberoamerican Prize, the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, and the Order of the Legion of Honor by the French Government. She is a Reforma columnist and moderator of the program "Aristegui" on CNN in Spanish. She directs the web portal Aristegui News. Until early March 2015, she was director of the First Edition (morning program) of MVS News (radio).