AMLO furious with Biden: "Why does the US government offer opinions about issues concerning Mexican affairs?"
Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador harshly questioned the United States government after the State Department released a report on human rights violations around the world in 2020 - which included a critical section on Mexico - and defended Notimex Chief Sanjuana Martínez, noted in the report for censoring information uncomfortable for Mr. Lobrador's government and orchestrating online campaigns to attack journalists critical of the government.
"Yesterday the US government's State Department made recommendations on Mexico. Who do you think the US government accuses, among others? Sanjuana, the director of Notimex," the president said during his morning broadcast, while smiling.
According to AMLO, the journalist, head of the state news agency "is a consequential journalist who faced vested interest groups."
Sanjuana Martínez, the journalist with Amlo accused by the US government of persecuting journalists.
The report, launched every year by the State Department addressing the global situation concerning human rights, freedom of expression and corruption, among other crimes, focus on murders and attacks on journalists in its Mexico Section, mentioning a report by Aristegui Noticias, Signa Lab and Artículo 19 on the alleged actions commanded by Sanjuana Martínez to accuse journalists critical of the government and former Notimex employees.
"Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor, director of Notimex, the state news agency, ordered journalists to delete or not publish content about certain government institutions and officials," informed the State Department Report presented yesterday by Anthony Blinken.
US State Department report highlights human rights abuses across Latin America
"Journalists who ask the president difficult questions during his press conferences are attacked via Twitter. Tweets spread their identities and the media they represent and also make veiled threats," he adds.
In defense of his employee, AMLO said That Artículo 19 "is financed by foreign companies, even by the State Department," an accusation that it also often used for other media outlets and NGOs.
We are respectful, we cannot comment on what is happening in other countries, so why does the US government comment on issues that concern Mexicans only?
In addition, the president directly questioned Biden's government, whom in recent days had been deeply praised for sending 2.7 million Covid-19 vaccines to Mexico, saying that "to begin with we do not comment on human rights violations in the US."
We are respectful, we cannot comment on what is happening in other countries, so why does the US government comment on issues that concern Mexicans only? Why are they criticizing Sanjuana?" he asked.
In addition to the persecution of communicators by a senior state official, the report also mentions the high number of journalists murdered in Mexico reported in 2020, and warns of the "impunity and extremely high prosecution rates" of those responsible for violent crimes in the country, as well as the alleged involvement of members of the security forces in illegal armed groups, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and poor prison conditions, including other human rights violations.