UNESCO and AMARC on the Oxacan Community Journalist Murders

AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, clarifies the circumstances surrounding the murder of community radio journalists Felicitas Martínez Sánchez and Teresa Bautista Merino in the Mexican state of Oaxaca:

[They] were accompanied by Faustino Vázquez Martínez, Cristina Martínez Flores and two minors on their way to their community, after having participated in a meeting with the local population of Llano Juárez inviting them to participate in the radio station.

In the highway they were attacked apparently to be kidnapped, under the armed attack they lost the control of the vehicle. The aggression resulted in the death of the Journalists Teresa Bautista and Felicitas Martínez, and left wounded by bullets the couple formed by Faustino and Cristina with their two daughters. In the site of the aggression there were 20, 7.62 calibre cartridges used in assault AK-47 rifles, weapons normally reserved to use by the Army.

AMARC condemns the murders and makes several demands, including

An end to the climate of impunity that is allowing such acts of aggression, disappearances and murders to continue to be committed against members of community media, as well as journalists and media outlets in general, which is making Mexico the continent’s most dangerous country in which to work as a journalist (see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24025 )

UNESCO also condemns the murders:

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today condemned the murder of community radio announcers Felicitas Martínez Sánchez and Teresa Bautista Merino who were shot dead in an ambush in the state of Oaxaca, in southeast Mexico, on 7 April.
“I condemn the murder of Felicitas Martínez Sánchez and Teresa Bautista Merino,” said the Director-General. “Killing journalists is a heinous crime which harms the whole of society as it undermines the democratic right of citizens to hold informed debate and make informed political choices.”