Ciro Gomez Leyva says he was saved by his armoured automobile after gunmen shot at him close to his house in Mexico Metropolis.
A distinguished Mexican radio and tv reporter says two gunmen tried to kill him close to his house in Mexico Metropolis, renewing considerations for the protection of journalists within the Central American nation.
Ciro Gomez Leyva, one in all Mexico’s best-known journalists, mentioned in a social media publish early on Friday that the assault occurred shortly earlier than midnight.
“200 metres [650 feet] from my home, two individuals on a motorbike shot at me, apparently with the clear intention of killing me,” Gomez Leyva wrote. “The armour of my truck that I used to be driving saved me, and I’ve reported the matter to the authorities.”
He shared photographs of the impression of a number of bullets on his automobile. The bullets seem to have did not penetrate the window of his automobile.
Mexico has seen an uptick of lethal violence in opposition to media professionals this yr. In response to the Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ), a US-based watchdog, 13 journalists have been killed within the nation to this point in 2022, together with three who have been targetted in “retaliation for his or her reporting”.
Mexico additionally leads the world within the variety of lacking journalists – 15 instances since 2005, the committee mentioned this yr.
Mexico is now the deadliest nation for reporters exterior conflict zones. In its year-end report, Reporters With out Borders (RSF) mentioned 20 p.c of journalists killed worldwide have been slain in Mexico. That, together with killings in Haiti and Brazil, helped make the Americas the “world’s most harmful area for media” in 2022, in line with the report.
The concentrating on of journalists in Mexico has typically been blamed on organised crime, however press freedom advocates have criticised authorities and the nation’s weak authorized system for failing to adequately handle the problem.
“Whereas investigating assaults on journalists, CPJ has discovered that authorities are sometimes gradual to reply, fail to use greatest practices to proof gathering, and seem to prioritize presenting suspects as quickly as attainable, moderately than conducting a radical investigation,” the group mentioned in a assertion in August.
“Furthermore, it’s generally tough to find out whether or not official investigations are reliable, as authorities allegedly collude with felony gangs or are concerned within the assaults themselves,” it mentioned.
The assault on Gomez Leyva sparked condemnations throughout Mexico, together with from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who typically verbally clashes with the reporter.
“He’s a journalist, a human being, however what’s extra, he’s a frontrunner of public opinion, and accidents to an individual like Ciro creates loads of political instability,” Lopez Obrador mentioned.
“Now we have variations,” the president admitted. “They’re infamous and public. We’re going to proceed to have them, however it’s fully reprehensible for anybody to be attacked.”
Gomez Leyva mentioned he had no concept of who was behind the assault.
He mentioned he had solely obtained threats 5 years in the past after publishing a narrative about extortion at a Mexico Metropolis jail. Following that 2017 menace, the media firm he works for insisted he use a bullet-resistant Jeep Cherokee.