Mexico: “Vestiges”, or the fight against impunity for crimes committed against journalists
Audio 02:21
Miguel Angel López Velasco and Misael López Solana, father and son journalists murdered in 2011. © Félix Marquez
By: Alix Hardy Follow
6 min
Since 2000, more than 100 journalists have paid for their work with their lives in Mexico.
Mexican photojournalist Félix Marquez created the “Vestiges” project which aims to document the personal effects of victims in order to fight against the oblivion and the impunity that surrounds these crimes.
Publicity
Moises Sanchez was a freelance journalist.
He had founded his own magazine,
La Union
, which he printed with his salary as a taxi driver and whose headlines he trumpeted over a loudspeaker near his village of Medellín, in the state of Veracruz.
Moises died assassinated in January 2015. The first of eight journalists in Mexico that year alone.
It was while talking with his son José that Félix Marquez, photojournalist for Veracruz, had the idea to take a picture of this iconic speaker.
“
He showed me the loudspeaker his father used for his newspaper.
I realized that several of my murdered colleagues also had objects that define them and that this work could be a way of paying homage to them,
”he explains.
Thirty journalists have been killed in Veracruz since 2000.
The murdered journalists whose personal effects Félix documented were first and foremost colleagues and friends.
Veracruz is one of the most dangerous states for journalists in Mexico.
“
The state of Veracruz is a key territory for organized crime and politics.
The border has become less clear between the two and organized crime has infiltrated local authorities.
At the beginning, we thought that if we didn't cover subjects related to drug trafficking, that we censor ourselves, our life would be saved.
But the example of Moises Sanchez shows that dealing with generalist subjects, like him who denounced that the mayor does not tarmac the streets of his village, is enough to be assassinated,
”he laments.
Then to add: "
Thirty journalists have been killed in Veracruz since the year 2000. The consequences of the murder of a journalist are insignificant, so it is within the reach of anyone now.
My career here has been devoted to covering violence and the war on drugs.
At one point, I had to flee Veracruz and Mexico for several months to protect myself.
"
A testimony of their determination in the face of precarious conditions
The objects that these journalists leave behind are also a testimony of their determination to exercise their profession despite more than precarious working conditions.
“
This project also aims to denounce their working conditions
,” he says.
“
My colleague Guillermo Luna, murdered in 2012, was working with his own camera that lacked the button to press to take the picture.
His editorial staff never provided him with any material.
We see the precariousness of the profession ... He was paid 60 euros per month.
I can't believe you can pay someone like that to take such risks… and it continues.
"
Félix Marquez plans to continue documenting crimes that do not stop to prevent them from falling into oblivion: in Mexico currently 85% of murders of journalists have not been resolved, according to UNESCO.
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Mexico
Journalism
Criminality