A prominent Mexican journalist has survived an attack by two gunmen on a motorcycle that drew mixed messages from Mexico’s president as the country was established as the most dangerous place for journalism in 2022.
Ciro Gómez Leyva, a well-known journalist in Mexico who works for Imagen Televisión’s nightly news, was shot by gunmen on a Mexico City street last week and survived the attack thanks to being driven by an armored vehicle. Mexico News Daily reported.
“At 11:10 p.m., 200 meters from my house, two people on a motorbike shot at me, apparently with the clear intent to kill me,” Gómez Leyva wrote on Twitter. “The armor of my truck that I was driving saved me and I have informed the authorities of the matter.”
Visibly shaken, Gómez Leyva said he had no idea who might have been behind the attack.
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador listens as he meets with President Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 12, 2022.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
He said the only threat he received was several years ago after he published a story about extortion in a Mexico City prison. After that 2017 story, the media company she works for insisted that she drive a bulletproof Jeep Cherokee.
The Mexico City prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation.
“He is a journalist, a human being, but he is also a leader of public opinion and injuries to a person like Ciro create a lot of political instability,” said Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has been a staunch critic of certain members of the press since he took office in 2018.
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A man holding a sign reading ‘No more journalists’ blood’ during a protest to demand justice for a murdered journalist.
(AP images)
“We have differences, they are notorious and public, we are going to continue having them,” added the president, “but it is completely reprehensible for anyone to be attacked.”
Although López Obrador condemned the attack, he has also made critical comments with the press and with Gómez Leyva in particular.
López Obrador criticized “spokesmen for conservatism” during a daily press conference calling several high-profile independent journalists, including Gómez Leyva, by name.
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Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks during a ceremony to commemorate in Mexico City’s main square, the Zócalo, on August 13, 2021.
(AP)
“Now they are playing the victims,” López Obrador added. “(But) they are the elite, the most select media,” he said, alleging that well-paid media figures seek to protect interest groups he did not name.
The president’s response drew strong rejection from many members of the Mexican press, the New York Times reported, including a letter from prominent journalists condemning his comments critical of the press.
“Practically all expressions of hate towards journalists are incubated, born and disseminated in the National Palace,” says the letter signed by 180 journalists. “If President López Obrador does not control his angry impulses towards critical journalists, the country will enter an even bloodier stage.”
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On his popular morning radio show, Gómez Leyva said of the president: “I have no differences with him. We do our job as journalists.”
The media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported this month that Mexico was the deadliest place for journalists in 2022.
The report recorded 11 murders of media professionals in the Latin American country between January and December 1, or nearly 20% of the global total, according to the report.
Worldwide, RSF reported 57 journalist murders, an 18.8% increase from 2021, driven mainly by the war in Ukraine.
Free expression groups have documented even more murders of media workers this year, making 2022 the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
