The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, has condemned the killing of two journalists in Mexico, Rubén Pat Cahuich, in Playa del Carmen, state of Quintana Roo, on 24 July, and Luis Pérez García, in Mexico City, on 9 July.
“I condemn the murder of Rubén Pat Cahuich and Luis Pérez García,” said the Director-General. “Violence against journalists constitutes an attack on the basic human right of freedom of expression and the right to access information for the whole of society. Such killings must not go unpunished, which is why I call on the authorities to spare no effort in bringing their perpetrators to justice.”
Rubén Pat Cahuich, director of the online magazine Playa News Aquí y Ahora, had received threats to his life and was under the protection of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders. His killing comes less than one month after that of José Guadalupe Chan Dzib, a former colleague of Pat Cahuich, who died on 29 June.
Luis Pérez García, the 80-year-old director of the magazine Encuesta de Hoy, was killed in his home in Mexico City.
UNESCO promotes the safety of journalists through global awareness-raising, capacity-building and a range of actions, notably the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
See also: UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.
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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 08 91