The organization Article 19 denounced that 2015 was the most violent year for the press in Mexico since 2009, registering 397 cases of attacks on media and journalists, representing an increase of 21.8% over the previous year, as in 2014, 326 attacks were recorded.
According to the report, during the three years of the Enrique Peña Nieto government, 1,073 attacks have been documented, i.e. one every 22 hours.
The organization, based in London, said that 46.9% of the assaults committed in the past seven years originated from a public servant, which "proves that it is not organized crime that is the main perpetrator" of the attacks, but the State itself.
The report details the increase in incidents against the press impairs the exercise of freedom of expression and is part of the dramatic deterioration of the situation of human rights in Mexico.
"The impunity in Mexico reminds us that fear is grounded in the reality that the press lives with in the country and it seeks to terrorize anyone who intends to exercise freedom of expression," the report noted.Areas with the most attacks during 2015 were Mexico City and Veracruz with 67 cases each and Guerrero followed with 56 cases and Puebla 38. However, Veracruz, the state governed by Javier Duarte de Ochoa, has been as the most dangerous area on the continent for journalists, as 15 journalists have been killed since Duarte took office.
The document details Puebla, governed by Rafael Moreno Valle, recorded more cases of violence perpetrated by govenment agencies.
In the case of Guerrero, attacks doubled, going from 28 in 2014 to 56 in 2015. Violence against the press in this region has reached levels of ungovernability, because organized crime has extensive control in the context of a weak State.
These states also have had the highest number of attacks on the press in the past six years. From 2009 to 2015, 302 attacks were recorded in Mexico City; 240 in Veracruz; 154 in Oaxaca, and 133 in Guerrero.
Of the 397 attacks documented for last year by Article 19, 244 were directed against men, 84 against women and 69 against media offices. Of the 8 murders in 2015, 7 were against journalists in their possible relation to their journalistic work and one was an administrative employee of a newspaper.
Between 2014 and 2015 attacks on media organizations increased by 80%, the document explains; the highest incidence occurred against digital platforms, with 32 attacks in 2015. Spanish original