August 10, (THEWILL) – A Mexican Drug group, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), has threatened to kill a news anchor over what it deems to be unfair coverage.
The threat was made by a man claiming to speak for Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel, CJNG.
In a released video threatening to murder the journalist, the cartel complained that Milenio Television was favouring so-called self-defence groups organised to resist the CJNG.
In the video, journalist Azucena Uresti is threatened directly.
“I will make you eat your words even if they accuse me of femicide,” the man, who claimed he was speaking on behalf of the leader of the CJNG, warned.
The man said, the cartel supports freedom of expression in the media, but that there needs to be more balanced coverage.
The masked man also claimed that the self-defence groups (which claim to be standing up to the cartels) are in fact drug traffickers themselves.
Expert accounts suggest that vigilante self-defence forces have helped to contain violence in high-crime areas like Michoacan state. But some have reportedly struck deals to get protection and firearms from criminal gangs.
The leader of the CJNG cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, is one of Mexico’s most wanted men. The US Drug Enforcement Administration is offering a $10m (£7.2m) reward for information leading to his capture.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. But while attacks on local reporters are common, such public warnings are rare.
Although Milenio Television and Ms Uresti are yet to comment on the video, Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez Cuevas tweeted that the government “will take the necessary measures to protect threatened journalists and news outlets.”
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