Journalist killed in Mexico refused to leave his region

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican journalist Armando Linares refused to leave his region after the murder of one of his colleagues in January, as proposed by federal authorities, so he was left without protection, Mexico's Undersecretary of Public Security said Thursday.

Linares, who was shot dead at his home on Tuesday in the western town of Zitácuaro, is the eighth journalist killed in Mexico so far this year.

Ricardo Mejía, federal undersecretary of Public Security, insisted on Thursday that Linares, director of the Monitor Michoacán portal, rejected “any protection measure” unlike two comrades who were removed from the state. “Unfortunately, Armando, despite the many steps that were made, did not want to be subject to this mechanism.”

Removing a human rights defender or journalist from their place of origin is usually one of the measures contemplated by the federal protection mechanism, but in some cases those affected do not want to. It is also common for them to refuse local escorts because they consider them linked to those who threaten them.

Balbina Flores, a representative of the NGO Reporters Without Borders in the country, clarified that what Linares rejected was “extraction”, that is, to be removed from Michoacán. “When a journalist does not agree to travel, which happens, we immediately recommend implementing other measures: escorts, bulletproof vests and home security,” he explained to the AP. “In other cases we have managed to get these measures in place, but the mechanism favors extraction.”

The family acknowledged that he did not want to leave and he himself in a video after the murder of his companion was willing to continue reporting from his village. “I don't know what's going to happen,” he said, but “we're going to keep pointing out corruptions... even if life goes along with it.”

At that time, on the night of January 31, hours after the murder Roberto Toledo, a collaborator of Monitor Michoacán, Linares told The Associated Press, that the threats continued and that the authorities had activated the protection mechanism assigning him National Guard personnel for custody. Rosa Elena Pedraza, his wife, confirmed to the PA on Wednesday that security had it for a month, but then they withdrew it claiming that “if everything is quiet, they take away the protection”.

A few meters from his coffin and his eyes full of tears, Pedraza recalled that “my children always told him to leave, not to stay here”, but that Linares always answered them “I'm not going to shut up, I'll stay”.