Mexico: Indigenous Radio Founder, Educator-Journalist Murdered
Several human rights organizations and journalists have also condemned Enriquez’ murder, on social networks, and demand that “this heinous crime does not go unpunished.”
Founder of southern Mexico Indigenous community radio station Estéreo Cafetal, Telesforo Santiago Enriquez, was murdered Thursday, Mexican authorities have reported.
According to authorities from the state of Oaxaca, Enriquez, who was an educator and journalist, was ambushed in his car, in the city of Juchitan, and received multiple shots which led to him dying on the spot.
RELATED CONTENT: Honduran Police Clashes With Protesters Over Health and Education
“From the government, we have committed to finding the perpetrators who attacked Mexican journalism,” presidential spokesperson Jesus Ramirez announced on his Twitter account.
Several human rights organizations and journalists have also condemned Enriquez’ murder, on social networks, and demand that “this heinous crime does not go unpunished.”
The journalist was a recognized professor of Indigenous studies and a promoter and defender of Indigenous culture.
The radio station is located in and broadcast from the municipality of San Agustin Loxicha.
RELATED CONTENT: Canada is “Complicit” in Saudi Mass Execution – Relatives of Victims
According to EFE, Enriquez is the eighth journalist killed since Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was inaugurated on December 1, 2018, took office.
The list of murdered journalist includes: Jesus Alejandro Marquez, who was murdered in Mexico City last December; Rafael Murua, who was killed in the state of Baja California Sur in January; Reylando Lopez and Jesus Ramos Rodriguez, murdered in the states of Sonora and Tabasco, respectively, in February; and Santiago Barroso and Omar Ivan Camacho, murdered in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, respectively, in March.
In the six years of immediate ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto’s tenure, 47 journalists were murdered in Mexico.
Nine murders took place in 2018 out of a total of 2,347 attacks against media practitioners.
