The IFJ condemns the brutal murder of Mexican journalist Moises Sanchez Cerezo, from Veracruz

February 2, 2015

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges the Mexican authorities to solve all the responsibilities for the murder of journalist Moises Sanchez Cerezo, ensuring that crime does not go unpunished.

Moises Sanchez Cerezo, editor of La Union, was found killed after 24 days without news of his whereabouts.

He was kidnapped on January 2, 2015, when an armed group entered his home and took him by force, being this information the last one we had on his location. On the eve of his death, Sanchez Cerezo had received threats from the mayor of Medellín, Omar Cruz Reyes, after making allegations of insecurity in their municipality and corruption of some local authorities.

According to Fernando Olivas Ortiz, president of Sindicato Nacional de Redactores de Prensa de México, "The SNRP is shocked by the situation in Mexico and requests that the authorities take action on the matter. The state of Veracruz has been in recent days a place where the situation is frightening for journalists, where authorities and organized crime threaten them and there are no guarantees for journalism. The Veracruz state government is responsible for protecting the journalism; media workers develop their work in a really dangerous environment”.

Fernando Olivas Ortiz also said that "With the case of Moisés Sánchez, journalism is truly affected. Moisés Sánchez joins the long list of journalists killed in the state of Veracruz. We request to the authorities of the municipality of Medellín to investigate to the end to solve the crime."

The president of the IFJ, Jim Boumelha, said that "The deaths of Mexican journalists continue to have a profound impact on the world’s journalists community, and their sacrifices just as great and their deaths just as shocking. The IFJ will continue to do all it can to improve the safety of our colleagues in Mexico. We support the SNRP’s demand for justice and urge the authorities to leave no stone unturned in finding and punishing the murderers."

"We also express our condolences to the family and colleagues of Moises Sanchez Cerezo, » he added.

Celso Schöder, president of FEPALC and IFJ vice-president said that “The death of journalist Moises Sanchez Cerezo is an inevitable and regrettable chapter in this announced chronic of deaths of journalists in Mexico. The IFJ and the FEPALC already denounced in their Solidarity Mission in that country, held between 9 and 11 September 2014, the unsustainable and unacceptable situation of threats, attacks and killings spread all across the country and especially in some regions, with the accomplice and criminal inaction of the federal government. The world, and particularly journalists, requires immediate investigation and punishment for this death which aims to terrorize the society and guarantee the privileges of the sectors that use violence as power support.”

To this new crime which saddens the Latin American and global journalism, we demand the clarification of all the responsibilities in this murder, along with the punishment of all those involved in the planning and execution of this homicide.



CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS, THE PREVAILING WEATHER

LIST OF CRIMINAL ACTS AGAINST JOURNALISTS

Jazmín Martinez Sanchez, a former reporter for Televisa Tepic, and her husband Alejandro Ramirez, were found dead after they were victims of kidnapping.

THE REPORTER YOHALI RESÉNDIZ WAS THREATENED YO DEATH ON WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY

In the threat, the attackers revealed personal data about the communicator, using improper tools and methods of subtraction of information. The messages were directed to the Twitter account @yohaliresendiz from three different users, who typically perform these practices with other users of the social network. Besides death threats, attackers have launched misogynistic and sexual connotation messages against Reséndiz. Yohali Resendiz, for nine years, works at Grupo Imagen in Mexico City. Her news coverage is focused on issues of violence against women and child abuse, information also often shared on her social networks and her blog: "Journalism foolproof".

JOURNALIST SUFFERS ATTACK, HIS HEALTH IS DELICATE

José Ignacio Santiago Martínez, correspondent for the newspaper El Imparcial de Oaxaca in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, was physically assaulted on Monday 12 January, and his health is delicate. José Ignacio is a journalist who specializes in covering police facts in the town of Juchitan. According to a note published by El Imparical, this is the town "where there have been a series of clashes between gangs", which has turned the city with "highest number of murders in the Isthmus." That is the information that the communicator daily reports.

ATTACK THE JOURNALIST ALFREDO IBÁÑEZ JUAREZ

Physical aggression against journalist Alfredo Ibáñez Juárez was raised in the town of Huixquilucan, State of Mexico, when the communicator arrived his home.



BACKGROUND

During 2014, nine murders of Mexican journalists were documented. The states that showed greater aggression to the press were Oaxaca, Guerrero, Veracruz, Zacatecas, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas.

The journalists killed for their journalistic work during the past year are:

1. Hermandes Octavio Rojas, El Buen Tono, Oaxaca, Mexico

2. Nolberto Herrera Rodriguez, Canal 9 TV, Guadalupe, Zacatecas, Mexico

3. Jorge Torres Palacios, El Dictamen de Guerrero, Guerrero, Mexico

4. Gregorio Jimenez De la Cruz, Notisur / Liberal Del Sur, Las Choapas, Veracruz, Mexico

5. Fabian Omar Reyes, former correspondent of the journal Tiempo, in Miahuatlán de Porfirio Diaz, Oaxaca, Mexico.

6. Miguel Angel Guzman Garduno, Vértice, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico

7. Atilano Roman Tirado, 98.7 FM ABC Radio, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

8. Maria del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, Valor de Tamaulipas, Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico

9. José Antonio Gamboa Urias, Nueva Prensa, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico

For more information contact:
IFJ
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Phone: + 32 2 235 22 17
Email: ifj@ifj.org
Website: www.ifj.org/