記者殺害多発のメキシコ　「毎日が死と隣り合わせ」

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】メキシコ中部アグアスカリエンテスに住むマリア・マルティネス記者（５５）は自宅を出るたびに、これが最後かもしれないと恐れている。同国では今年に入って８人の記者が殺害され、２月中旬時点で、昨年殺害されたメディア関係者の数を上回った。（写真はメキシコ・ティフアナで、軍による麻薬製造拠点の摘発現場を撮影するヘスース・アギラル記者）
「毎日が死と隣り合わせです。おびえながら暮らすのはつらいです」。マルティネス記者は、鍵と監視カメラで守られた自宅で語った。
　検察当局によると、今月１５日にも、暴力が多発している中西部ミチョアカン州で報道機関のディレクターが殺害された。
　このディレクターは数週間前に同僚の一人が殺害された際、汚職を報じたために取材チームが脅迫を受けていたと明かし、「私たちは武装していない。武器も所持していない。私たちの唯一の武器はペンと鉛筆だ」と訴えていた。
　ニュースサイト「ペンドゥロ・インフォルマティーボ」を運営しているマルティネス記者も、当局と麻薬密売組織との癒着を調査したことで殺害予告を受けたと話す。
　同ニュースサイトの報道を受けて警察官数人が収監された一方で、マルティネス記者は政府の保護対象ジャーナリストとなった。当局には、緊急通報ボタンを兼ねた追跡装置で２時間ごとの安否確認を要請しているが、武装したボディーガードの方がより信頼できる。
　「私の命があるのは彼らのおかげです」とマルティネス記者。出歩く際にはすぐ後ろで、私服の元特殊部隊員２人が近づく車や人を警戒しながら護衛する。
　「家族から報道の仕事をやめてと懇願される」が、「私には信念と（中略）社会的な責任があります」と話した。
　麻薬密売人による報復行為の取材や政治家・治安部隊員の癒着疑惑を報道した記者は、殺し屋を差し向けられることになる。
　米国境に接する北西部の町ティフアナでは今年１月、写真記者が殺害され、その数日後、政府の保護対象となっていた記者が射殺された。
　２人の同僚であるヘスース・アギラル記者（３２）は、「後ろから車がゆっくり近づいてくると、撃たれるんじゃないかと思ってしまう。駐車中に車が近づいてきたら、シートを倒して身を守ります」と語った。
　メキシコは報道関係者にとって世界で最も危険な国の一つだ。
　国際ジャーナリスト組織「国境なき記者団（ＲＳＦ）」によると、メキシコで殺害された記者は２０００年以降、約１５０人に上っている。だが、実行犯が有罪になったケースはごくわずかしかない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/30-10:12）

Each time Maria Martinez leaves home, she fears it will be the last. Only her bodyguards prevent her from joining the eight journalists murdered already this year in Mexico, she believes.
I know that my life's at risk every day and it's terrible to live with the threat, the 55-year-old reporter said in her house in the central city of Aguascalientes, protected by locks and security cameras.
Two and a half months into 2022, the number of homicides of media workers in Mexico has already surpassed the toll for the whole of last year.
The latest victim was Armando Linares, the director of a news outlet in the violence-plagued western state of Michoacan who was murdered on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Linares's death came just weeks after one of his colleagues at the Monitor Michoacan, Roberto Toledo, was killed.
After Toledo's death, Linares denounced threats against him and his team for having exposed corruption.
We are not armed, we do not bring weapons. Our only defense is a pen, a pencil, Linares said.
Even so, he had not been given a security escort at the time of the attack.
- 'Owe them my life' -
Martinez, who runs the news website Pendulo Informativo, said she, too, has received death threats due to her investigations into corruption and links between officials and drug traffickers.
Several police officers were jailed after her reporting, and Martinez was placed in a government program providing protection to hundreds of journalists.
Martinez asks authorities to contact her every two hours through an electronic tracking device that also serves as a panic button.
But she places more trust in her armed guards.
I owe them my life. Without them I wouldn't be alive anymore, she said.
The two retired special forces members in civilian clothes watch for any approaching vehicle or person, and when Martinez walks outside, they follow close behind.
My family has asked me to quit journalism, but I'm a woman with convictions, values... I have a social responsibility, she said.
In Tijuana, the murders of two journalists this year in the northwestern border city have left colleagues such as Jesus Aguilar even more fearful of doing their job.
On January 17, photographer Margarito Martinez, with whom Aguilar worked regularly, was murdered.
Days later, Lourdes Maldonado was shot dead despite being in an official protection program.
Covering score-settling by drug traffickers and alleged links with politicians and security forces leaves reporters at the mercy of hired assassins.
When a car comes slowly behind me, I feel like it's going to stop and they're going to shoot me. Or when I'm parked and I see a vehicle closer to me, I move the seat back and lie down to protect myself, said Aguilar, 32.
- 'Nightmare continues' -
In the central city of Toluca, investigative reporter Maria Teresa Montano also has had guards since she was kidnapped for several hours in 2021 after revealing a network of corruption.
It's been very difficult. You have to be very careful, said Montano, 53.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for members of the press.
Around 150 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, and only a fraction of the crimes have resulted in convictions, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The other journalists killed this year were Juan Carlos Muniz, Heber Lopez, Jose Luis Gamboa and Jorge Luis Camero.
The nightmare continues for the press in Mexico, RSF said after the latest murder, demanding an exemplary investigation by authorities.
The United States and the European Parliament have both urged Mexico to ensure adequate protection for journalists, angering President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who accused EU lawmakers of supporting his opponents' coup attempt.
These are crimes committed by criminal gangs, Lopez Obrador said Wednesday, reiterating his vow of zero impunity.
His government said Thursday that 16 people had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in four of the murders of journalists this year.
Journalists in Mexico often lack safety equipment and, due to the low pay, collaborate with various media outlets.
Most crime reporters depend on the number of stories or photos they sell to pay their rent, so they prioritize production over safety, said Jan-Albert Hootsen, representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In the southern city of Chilpancingo, photographer Lenin Ocampo often runs into cartel members while working.
They stop us. They check us. The threat's always lurking, the 40-year-old said.