Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a writer. Since 2006, at least 45 print journalists, writers and bloggers have been murdered in connection with their work; at least 11 others have disappeared. Few of these attacks have been thoroughly investigated. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, fewer than 10% of attacks against journalists and writers result in convictions.
Despite the introduction of two mechanisms aimed at protecting journalists under threat, and the creation, in 2006, of the office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression, the rate at which journalists are being killed in Mexico is accelerating.
Approximately 50,000 people have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón announced his war against the drug cartels in 2006. In the six years that followed, many reporters and writers were killed in for investigating or for commenting on the violence. But the impunity enjoyed by those who murder or threaten journalists in Mexico owes much of its existence to the corruption and inertia that are so prevalent throughout the Mexican states. Police and employees of local administrations are often implicated in attacks on journalists, and, as the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression publicly recognised in March 2012, threats to journalists’ right to free expression often come directly from the state authorities themselves.
In June 2012, an amendment to the Mexican constitution was signed into law, making any attack on a journalist a federal crime.
To read more about attacks on Mexican writers and journalists and the corruption that allows this to happen:
http://www.utorontoihrp.com/index.php/advocacy/working-groups/working-group-reports/cat_view/10-working-group-and-clinic-reports/28-corruption-impunity-silence-the-war-on-mexicos-journalists (English, Español)
In 2011, the majority of writers killed were women:
The recent surge in killings in Veracruz State:
For a full Case List click here.