The United Mexican States has been both a subject of interest and controversy for the international community in this last year, mainly due to the United States’ decision to finally finish the construction of the Mexico–United States barrier[1] aimed at stopping the illegal migratory flow including the revival of programs that allow the federal government to work with local and state law enforcement agencies to arrest, detain and deport unauthorized immigrants with criminal records.[2]
Nevertheless, Mexico does not need the multibillionaire businessman and recently elected president, Donald Trump, to succeed.
To begin with, Mexico counts with a quite high Human Development Index (HDI) of 0,756, being 71st in the world ranking, which has slightly increased since the beginning of the new Millennium[3]; it is a highly industrialized country with just a 4% of its PBI depending on primary activities[4]. Even though highly dependent on the United States economy; it has a geostrategic position which automatically results in a complex but powerful role as the link between the powerful North and the potential of the big South of the American continent.
Mexico has also made it though uncountable crisis and it has very recently been witness of a number of core Reforms from the initiative of President Enrique Peña Nieto with the aim of overcoming the country’s structural challenges. [5]
It is evident that Mexico counts with a myriad of changes, including economic and political crisis, positive and negative developments, drug trafficking and illegal immigration that many of us already know.
But a constant fact few speak about concerning the boundaries within the country and which serving as a net indicator of the profound political and social crisis that Mexico is going through is related with the disappearance and assassination of people, specifically of journalists.
It appears that the increase of violence and fear is spreading all around the country, and the closure of El Norte de Ciudad de Juarez journal of the State of Chihuahua after the murder of Editor Miroslava Breach clearly is a case in point.
The crime for which she paid with her life included publications of accusations for political corruption in the State of Chihuahua, Human Rights abuses, aggressions to native communities and violence from drug trafficking Cartels[6], all of which are not new.
However, this is not the first- and probably it will not be the last case of violence in Mexico. According to international organization Reporters without Borders, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists due to threats and murders in the hands of organized crime in compliance with the Authorities. Only in the past decade, more than 80 journalists have been murdered and 17 have disappeared.[7] The impunity together with the tight links existing between the Government and the telecommunications are detrimental for the independence and transparency of the Country itself and therefore for Journalism in general.
Mexican journalists pose with photos of killed journalists outside the Veracruz state representation office during a protest in Mexico City on February 11, 2016 (Source: AFP)
This is clear that there is a lack of pluralism which – far from being conjunctural and organized- crime-related- has to deal with the Federal Law of Telecommunications[8], best known as “Televisa Law”, passed in a tense session in the Parliament in 2006, [9] which, even though, has survived numerous modifications.
Media concession concentration has been concentrated into two power groups: Televisa and Grupo Azteca, which do not contemplate fair and equal competition and favor monopolism.
Even though, Mexico City counts with a Human Right’s Commission which has condemned the murder of journalists, but it does not have both national reach nor prospects of a National Law being passed on the horizon, and therefore, putting freedom of speech at great risk and leaving many questions unanswered.
We refer to a Mexico which is number one in the world for many negative aspects when it should be excelling because of its great potential. But, after all, it is ultimately the structural power vacuum of the Mexican State which has created a very fragile equilibrium which is showing clear signs of exhaustion and that has been adding up in the forms of the bilateral unresolved issues with the US, an uneven and dependent Balance of Payment and Organized crime and Government conformity, among many others, which feed this surmounting violence making Mexico the most threatening country in Latin America for journalists who speak about these uncomfortable truths.
Cloè Saint Nom
[1] GARCIA, MICHAEL JOHN, “Barriers Along the U.S. Borders: Key Authorities and Requirements”, 27th January 2017, Congressional Research Service. Available on: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43975.pdf
[2] HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, JULIE, “Trump Orders Mexican Border Wall to Be Built and Plans to Block Syrian Refugees”, 25th January 2017 in The New York Times. Available on: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/refugees-immigrants-wall-trump.html?_r=0
[3] United Nations Development Program, “2014 Human Development Report”, Available in Spanish on: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-summary-es.pdf – pp. 17
[4] National Institute of Statistics and Geography, “Gross domestic product at current prices” – February 20th 2015. Available in Spanish on: http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/notasinformativas/pib_precr/NI-PIBCR.pdf
[5] The Government of the United States of Mexico, “Reformas en Acción”. Available in Spanish on: http://reformas.gob.mx/por-que
[6] Najar, Alberto, “Miroslava Breach, la periodista “incómoda” asesinada en México cuando llevaba a su hijo a la escuela” 24th March 2017 in BBC Mundo. Available on: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-39376671
[7] Reporters without Borders, For Freedom of Information – World Report, Mexico. Available on: https://es.rsf.org/report-México,184.html
[8][8] Federal Law of Telecommunications, Available on: http://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/es/mx/mx141es.pdf
[9] Becerril, Andrea “La ley Televisa, una imposición previa a las elecciones de 2006, según Creel” 5th May 2007 in La Jornada. Available on: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/05/index.php?section=politica&article=005n1pol