MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday that criticism he has faced over a string of journalist killings is part of a campaign to undermine his administration and tantamount to a “soft coup” orchestrated by media firms.
Local activists, international groups and U.S. lawmakers have called on Lopez Obrador to do more to rein in violence and protect reporters, as at least six journalists have been killed in Mexico so far in 2022, an ominously deadly start to the year for media workers with homicides already near record levels.
Even U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed concern over the spate of journalist killings.
“There’s a campaign against the government I represent that’s taking advantage of this unfortunate circumstance,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference in response to a question about whether his government had failed to protect media workers.
Lopez Obrador, who holds daily conferences that often run for over two hours, has ramped up his attacks on journalists and media outlets he regards as hostile to his government and accuses of being pawns of the “conservative” right and elites.
“It’s a kind of coup. It’s no longer the traditional military coup, it’s a soft coup with the power of the media that generally controls public opinion,” Lopez Obrador said.
Some 145 journalists were killed in Mexico from 2000 to 2021, according to human rights organization Article 19, making the country one of the deadliest for journalists.
The worst year in recent history was 2017, with 12 murders, followed by 2010, with 10.
“The Mexican government’s inaction allows the impunity that fuels these attacks to fester and cement its abysmal status as the hemisphere’s deadliest country for journalists,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in a Wednesday statement.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
