Freedom of Expression

Press release R290/21

The Office of the Special Rapporteur condemns the murder of journalists Manuel González Reyes and Freddy López Arévalo in Mexico and urges the State to strengthen the mechanisms for the protection of journalists and the administration of justice.

3 November 2021

The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the murder of journalist Manuel González Reyes in the city of Cuernavaca, state of Morelos; and of journalist Freddy López Arévalo in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, state of Chiapas, and calls on the State to investigate the facts fully, effectively, and impartially, to clarify their motives, and to punish the perpetrators. The Office also urges the State to strengthen the mechanisms for the prevention and protection of journalists and to redouble its efforts to combat impunity.

According to the information available, González Reyes - who reported on local issues of public interest in the digital media Portal Morelos - was reportedly attacked by gunfire by two unknown individuals on a motorcycle on the afternoon of September 28, 2021. As far as this Office was able to obtain information, at the time of the incident, the reporter was carrying his press credential accrediting him as a journalist of Portal Morelos. The Morelos state attorney general's office said it had opened the corresponding investigation.

López Arévalo was reportedly shot by a gunman outside his home on the afternoon of October 29, 2021. According to information obtained by this office, at the time of the incident, the journalist was returning home from Tuxtla Gutiérrez with his wife and children. The Chiapas prosecutor's office confirmed that it had begun an investigation after receiving a report of the murder from the municipal police in order to clarify the facts and find the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators.

With the murders of Gonzáles Reyes and López Arévalo, there are now nine murders registered by this Office in 2021, which reveals a serious pattern of violence against the press in Mexico. According to Principle 9 of the IACHR Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, "the murder, kidnapping, intimidation, threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of the media, violate the fundamental rights of individuals and severely restrict freedom of expression. It is the duty of States to prevent and investigate these acts, punish the perpetrators, and ensure that the victims receive adequate reparation.

In this context, the Office of the Special Rapporteur urges the Mexican State to strengthen the mechanisms for the protection of journalists and to redouble its efforts to guarantee access to effective and expeditious justice. This Office recalls the State's duty to guarantee the exercise of freedom of expression and insists on the importance of State authorities emphatically rejecting violence against communicators. Likewise, the Special Rapporteur’s Office reiterates that the lack of punishment for those responsible for murders, aggressions, threats and attacks related to the exercise of journalistic activity sends a permissive message of violence, encouraging the occurrence of new crimes and generating an effect of self-censorship.

In view of the foregoing considerations, this Office calls on the Mexican State to make its best efforts to advance in diligent judicial investigations, not only with regard to the murders of Manuel González Reyes and Freddy López Arévalo, but also with regard to all other episodes of violence registered throughout 2021 and in previous years, which have not yet been punished.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression is an office created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to encourage the hemispheric defense of the right to freedom of thought and expression, considering its fundamental role in the consolidation and development of the democratic system.

R290/21