Mexican journalists ask López Obrador to "cease the harassment" after the attack on Ciro Gómez

MADRID, 21 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

A total of 180 journalists have asked the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to stop the "harassment" against journalists after the attack against the reporter and writer Ciro Gómez Leyva.

"Our solidarity with Ciro is total, and our indignation at the fact leads us to demand that the president (...) stop the harassment he exercises against critical journalists," reads a letter signed by professionals from various Mexican media.

"Practically all the emanations of hate towards journalists are incubated, born and spread in (the) National Palace", the information professionals have denounced.

Thus, they have pointed out that "defamation, which replaces the debate of ideas, is a call for physical violence against journalists stigmatized by the president."

"We demand that the Government clarify the attack, punish the material and intellectual culprits, and that President López Obrador assume his political responsibility in this assassination attempt," the letter continues.

The signatories have criticized the figures for murders of journalists in the country: "Impunity is alarming." "If President López Obrador does not control himself in his impulses of anger towards critical journalists, the country will enter an even bloodier stage," they lamented.

The signing journalists work for media such as 'El Universal', 'Excélsior', 'Milenio', 'Reforma', 'El Financiero', Radio Fórmula, Emeequis, W Radio, Etcétera, Latinus, and several others.

Gómez Leyva was the object of a direct armed attack last Thursday night in Mexico City when he was returning to his home. Several men aboard a motorcycle shot at him a short distance from the truck where he was traveling, whose armor meant that he was not injured.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced last week the increase in the number of journalists killed in 2022, rising 18.8 percent compared to the previous year, registering 57 murders compared to 48.

"In addition, some countries, such as Mexico, continue to fail to control the violence that plagues their territories and directly affects journalists." In fact, Mexico has registered eleven journalists murdered this year -which brings to 80 the deaths in the last ten years-, which represents close to 20 percent of the total information professionals killed worldwide.