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WORLD NEWS Thursday 27 January 2022
Journalists across Mexico protest killings of 3 this year

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dem- more journalist killed,” and
onstrations were held Tues- “The Truth can’t be killed.”
day in more than a dozen Mexico remains the most
cities across Mexico to dangerous place in the
protest the killings of three Western Hemisphere for
journalists in the the last two journalists, despite the gov-
weeks. ernment’s pledge to pro-
In the border city of Tijua- tect them. Some of the
na, two journalists have journalists killed recently
been killed in the space of had been under a govern-
a week. On Jan. 17, crime ment protection program
photographer Margari- that many say is insufficient.
to Martínez was gunned In 2019, Maldonado came
down outside his home. to López Obrador’s daily
And on Jan. 23, reporter morning news briefing and
Lourdes Maldonado López asked for his support, help
was found shot to death in- and labor justice. “Because
side her car. I fear for my life,” she said.
Dozens of reporters, pho- Maldonado had been
tographers and supporters locked in a years-long la-
marched down a central bor dispute with Jaime
boulevard in Tijuana in the Bonilla, who was elected
evening, holding up signs governor of Baja California
with slogans like “Stop the People and journalists join a national protest against the murder of journalist Lourdes Maldonado later that year as a candi-
Killing of Journalists, Not and freelance photojournalist Margarito Martínez, outside the attorney general’s office in Tijuana, date from López Obrador’s
Mexico, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022.
One More Death!” Associated Press Morena party. He left office
Early Tuesday, news pho- late last year.
tographers laid their cam- couraging. López Obra- silent vigil, others signs de- ing the evening in Tijuana’s Maldonado had recently
eras on the ground outside dor’s Interior Undersecre- manding a halt to the kill- most populous neighbor- announced that she won
Mexico City’s National Pal- tary Alejandro Encinas said ings and saying “I am out- hood. her dispute with a media
ace. The spot was decorat- recently that more than raged by silence.” The government program company Bonilla owned
ed with flowers, small signs 90% of murders of journal- Photos of murdered jour- often gives journalists a after nine years of litigation.
saying “Press, don’t shoot!” ists and rights defenders re- nalists were projected onto button fob that can sound Maldonado had collabo-
and photos of Maldonado, main unresolved, despite a the building’s facade. Jour- an emergency alarm, but rated with many outlets,
Martínez, and José Luis government system meant nalists chanted “Justice!” some say it is useless. but recently was doing a
Gamboa, who was killed in to protect them. and “You are not alone!” “What the give us is a internet, radio and televi-
the Gulf coast state of Ve- The New York-based Com- Laura Sanchez, a journalist damned panic button, sion show, “Brebaje,” fo-
racruz on Jan. 10. mittee to Protect Journal- from Baja California living and you know what that cused on local news.
Inside the palace, Presi- ists puts the percentage at in Mexico City, recounted button is? It is the number Martínez, the photogra-
dent Andrés Manuel López 95%, said its Mexico repre- some of the journalist mur- of the municipal police su- pher gunned down outside
Obrador faced journalists sentative Jan-Albert Hoot- ders in Tijuana over the pervisor who is corrupt and his home, was well-known
at his daily news briefing sen. years. She ridiculed the sold out,” Sanchez said. for covering the crime
and promised again those Later Tuesday, a couple of government program that Protests were also held in scene in violence-plagued
responsible for the latest hundred journalists gath- is supposed to protect the states of Veracruz, San Tijuana. He worked for the
slaying would be punished, ered in protest in front of journalists, noting that Mar- Luis Potosí, Durango and local news outlet Cadena
that there would not be im- the Interior Department garito Martinez was killed in Nayarit, with dozens of Noticias, as well as for other
punity. headquarters in Mexico the middle of the day and journalists gathering under national and international
But precedent is not en- City. Some held candles in Lourdes Maldonado dur- placards reading “Not one media outlets.q

Ex-senator, presidential candidate

deported to Haiti from U.S.

By HAROLD ISAAC faces any charges. au-Prince neighborhood
Associated Press He said U.S. authorities de- of Delmas 47, where some
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) tained him on Monday people burned tires and
— Former Haitian senator as he returned from Nige- threw rocks at passing cars.
and presidential candidate ria and interrogated him Jean-Charles ran for presi-
Moïse Jean-Charles told about his recent trip to Af- dent in 2015 and 2016
The Associated Press on rica. He said he spent the against opponents includ-
Tuesday that he was arrest- night in jail and was deport- ing slain President Jovenel
ed in the U.S. and deported ed on Tuesday. Moïse, who was shot July
to Haiti. “They’ve forbidden me 7 at his private residence.
Jean-Charles spoke briefly from entering the U.S. for Jean-Charles was previ- Former Haitian senator and presidential candidate Moise
as he arrived at the Tous- the next five years,” he ously a senator and also Jean-Charles speaks to the press at the Toussaint Louverture
saint Louverture Interna- said. “They’ve cancelled served as mayor for the International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Jan. 25,
tional Airport in the capital the visa and they’ve put northern town of Milot, near 2022. Associated Press
of Port-au-Prince, looking me in jail. It’s a humiliating where Moïse was born.
distraught. It wasn’t imme- thing.” Late last year, he called on solve the country’s rising in- address major issues includ-
diately clear why he was The arrest prompted a the administration of Prime security as soon as possible ing unemployment and
deported or whether he small protest in the Port- Minister Ariel Henry to re- so it can hold elections and kidnapping.q