Journalist Mireya Ulloa, editorial director of La Opinion, Veracruz, was stabbed

[Inkriql]

The journalist Mireya Ulloa Valencia, editorial director of the newspaper La Opinión, from Poza Rica, Veracruz, was stabbed when she arrived at her home early Wednesday morning after the issue closed.

According to the report, Ulloa arrived at her house around 1:30 am and when she got out of the vehicle she was attacked by a man who was waiting for her in the surroundings of the garage. He stabbed her repeatedly in the abdomen and threatened her that if she continued her journalistic work the next time, he would kill her. Then he fled.

After the screams, Mireya's relatives came to her aid and called 911 to ask for help from the authorities. However, they themselves transferred her to a private clinic where they gave her medical attention for stab wounds and she was reported stable.

After the attack, Ulloa Valencia herself reported to the secretary of the State Commission for Attention and Protection for Journalists (CEAPP), Jorge Morales, from whom she did not obtain the support that the event merited, since he minimized it by calling it a simple attempted assault with violence. However, at no time did the aggressor do anything to take the communicator's belongings, but the aggression was direct.
Poza Rica's Opinion condemned the attack against Mireya Ulloa (Photo: Twitter @ laopinionpr)
Poza Rica's Opinion condemned the attack against Mireya Ulloa (Photo: Twitter @ laopinionpr)

On its website, La Opinión de Poza Rica condemned the attack, which it said represents "one more against the free exercise of journalism", which is the third that has occurred against its staff.

In a statement, he noted: "This represents a clear intimidating act, with this mean action once again trying to silence our critical voice, as they have tried on previous occasions."

He called on CEAPP and the State Prosecutor's Office to take letters in the matter and clarify the facts. The Opinion reproached the CEAPP for having minimized the facts by trying to interpret it as a robbery with violence, a version that was later denied by the "first responders".

This is the third attack that occurs against personnel of said media. In late March 2017, Armando Arrieta Granados, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, received four 9-millimeter caliber bullets, one of which punctured one of his lungs.

 

After closing the edition of the form, the journalist arrived at his house, also in Poza Rica, and when he got out of his car he was shot by subjects who also fled; the attack cost him his hospitalization in intensive care and until his retirement from the environment after being on the verge of death, without so far the attack has been clarified.

Earlier, in April 2005, Raúl Gibb Guerrero, general director of the newspaper La Opinión de Poza Rica, was assassinated on his way to his home in the community of Santa Águeda, in the municipality of Papantla. In both cases, the authorities have not found those responsible.

Mexico is one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist. At least 11 communicators were killed during the first year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's presidential term.

According to Article 19, a group that tracks crimes against journalists worldwide, August 2019 was the worst month on record for Mexico when three communicators were killed.
 

The reasons for such killings are varied: hitmen from cartels annoyed at the coverage of their criminal activity, corrupt officials targeting critics to silence them; random violence and even journalists crossing the criminal worlds they cover.

Since 2000, 131 journalists have already lost their lives, making Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists included Mexico - along with Somalia, Syria and Iraq - in the list of countries with the greatest impunity to solve cases of killings of journalists.