The first eight months of 2022 have seen a shocking increase in lethal violence against journalists in Mexico, resulting in the murder of at least 13 journalists. According to a group of organisations that is monitoring and documenting these murders (Article19, the Committee to Protect Journalists – CPJ, Women’s Communication and Information – CIMAC, Reporters Without Borders and PEN International), the vast majority of these murders could be related to the exercise of the profession of journalism. If this trend continues, 2022 stands to become one of the most lethal years on record for the press in Mexico. Impunity, lack of investigations and ambiguous messages at all political levels indicate that the risk for this trend to continue is high.

In El Salvador, Nayib Bukele’s government has recently approved some reforms that are seen by many observers and CSOs as a deliberate censorship of journalists’ work. This is only the last chapter of a systematic attack on press freedom that Bukele has been carrying out since he came to power in 2019. Physical threats, several forms of harassment and now the concrete risk for journalists to be sentenced up to 15 years of imprisonment, has obliged many to flee the country. Other countries in the region have registered a similar degradation of the democratic space, of which journalism is a fundamental element.

Organised by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the EU-LAT Network, with the support of ENoP, this conference aims to shed a light on the current threats that media professionals are facing, hearing directly from journalists from the region. Panellists will discuss how the European Union can provide support through political initiatives and concrete mechanisms that protect individuals from old and new forms of violence.

Draft agenda

15:30 – 16:00  Registration

Moderation by Marco Pérez Navarrete, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung San Salvador Regional Office for Central America

16:00 –16:10  Welcoming words by MEP Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA), Chair of the EP Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America

16:10 – 16:30  Presentation of the report ‘Dejar todo’, women journalists in a situation of forced internal displacement in Mexico, by Lucía Lagunes Huerta, Director of CIMAC, Mexico and Camelia Muñoz Alvarado, Journalist, Mexico

16:30 – 16:45  Shrinking space for journalists in Central America: the case of El Salvador and Guatemala, by Carlos Dada, Co-founder and Director of El Faro news website

16:45 – 16:55  Remarks by an MEP tbc

16:55 – 17:15  How the European Union can support journalism and press freedom worldwide and specifically in Latin America: political and financial mechanisms in place, with Jonathan Hatwell, Head of Division –  Mexico, Central America and Caribbean at the European External Action Service

17:15 – 17:50  Q&A and debate

17:50 – 18:00  Closing remarks by an MEP tbc

18:00 – 19:00  Reception

With simultaneous interpretation in English and Spanish

This event is organised with the support of ENoP as part of its current EU co-funded project “Strengthening ENoP as Actor in Support of Democratic and Pluralistic Societies”.