Mexico Journalists: Article 19 says State agents committed 53.6% of attacks on journalists

Proceso: "The next to last year of the administration of Felipe Calderon, the eleventh year since the PAN took office, violence against journalists has emerged as an "untenable situation," said Dario Ramirez, director for Mexico and Central America of Article 19, the organization dedicated to defending freedom of expression.

Introducing the Report for 2011, "Silent Force: The state, Complicit in the Violence Against the Press in Mexico," at the Museum of Tolerance, Ramirez said that in the last decade, the organization, which is based in London, England, recorded 565 offenses against journalists, of which for 303 (53.63 %) the perpetrators were identified as agents of the state, while in 77 cases (13.63%) the perpetrators were members of organized crime.

The above figures, "belie the version supported by President Felipe Calderon attributed to drug violence against journalists," said Ramirez. Moreover, the breakdown of the data confirms that it has been because of the government of Felipe Calderon and its war on drugs, that the attacks attributed to public officials, increased: 303 occurred from 2009 to 2011.

The report details how that number, 77 incidents were attributed to state police, 36 to the Federal Police, 37 to the Municipal Police, and 41 to the armed forces. The states with the greatest records of violence against journalists by government officials are Chihuahua (47 cases), Veracruz (33), Oaxaca (25), Chiapas (19) and the Federal District (17).

In 2011, attacks on journalists totaled 172, of which 11 were murders and two disappearances, while 17 journalists were exiled from their hometowns in the absence of guarantees to perform the job." Spanish original

Translation: Reed Brundage, Mexico Daily News