Community radio under threat as two journalists are murdered

ARTICLE 19 and the World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) are among those condemning the murder of two community journalists in Mexico on 7 April. Teresa Bautisto Merion and Felicitas Martinez Sanchez are the latest victims of an ongoing campaign against journalists in the state of Oaxaca.  report by Natasha Schmidt from an ARTICLE 19 statement

Bautisto and Martinez, who worked for radio station La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (Voice that Breaks the Silence), were attacked and killed as they travelled along a highway between two Oaxacan towns. The political situation in the southern Mexico state has been tense since the creation of an autonomous region for the Triqui indigenous community in San Juan Copala  in early 2007, and community radio stations have been at particular risk of attack. Members of the Triqui indigenous community, including teenagers, regularly broadcast on the station, which plays an important role in the community. The station was said to have received death threats since it began broadcasting in 2007.
 
In a statement addressed to the country’s president and senior authorities, Reporters sans Frontieres, the Mexican branch of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), and ARTICLE 19 called for an end to the climate of impunity in the country, and demanded that those responsible for crimes against journalists and media workers be brought to justice.

Other community stations broadcasting on matters concerning indigenous communities, including Radio Nandia and Radio Calenda, have come under attack in the region in recent years.