Mexico: RSF condemns armed attack on El Debate newspaper
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is outraged by the armed attack on the newspaper El Debate, carried out on the night of 17 October 2024. The assault highlights the ongoing danger faced by journalists in Mexico, particularly in states severely affected by cartel violence. We call on the Mexican government to urgently implement effective measures to protect journalists, and on state prosecutors to decisively combat impunity throughout the country.
The attack took place at around 10:53 p.m. when two vehicles stopped in front of El Debate's office in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, a state particularly plagued by gang violence. An armed man exited one of the vehicles and opened fire on the building, hitting the façade with at least four bullets and damaging four nearby vehicles. Luckily, no one was hurt. Local authorities, including the State Attorney General’s Office and the Public Security Department, swiftly arrived at the crime scene to determine whether the newspaper was the intended target of the attack. The next day, President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack during her daily press conference.
On 19 October, two days after the attack, El Debate announced on X (formerly Twitter) that one of its delivery men had been chased by a group of men, thrown from his motorcycle, and kidnapped. El Debate had already been the target of a violent assault in 2015, when its office in Mazatlán, another city in Sinaloa, was attacked with high-calibre weapons.
"The attack on El Debate serves as yet another stark reminder of the violent environment that journalists in Mexico endure every day. The persistence of violence and intimidation against the press, particularly in regions ravaged by organised crime, threatens not only individual journalists but the public's right to information. Authorities must go beyond rhetoric and take concrete steps to address the root causes of impunity, ensuring that journalists can work without fearing for their lives.
A dark week of violent attacks
The armed attack on the newspaper El Debate, carried out on the night of 17 October 2024, is symptomatic of the climate of danger on that day and more generally in the region. The day El Debate’s Culiacán office was shot, was marked by a wave of violence linked to organised crime, and has come to be known as "Black Thursday." In addition to the shootouts, vehicle burnings, and roadblocks that occurred that day, unknown assailants burnt the car of journalist Arturo Hernández — director of the local media outlet Impacto Publicitario in San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec, a city in the state of Oaxaca — which also caused damage to his house. Hernández, who has been working in journalism for a decade, reported that just 15 days earlier, armed men had entered his home, physically assaulted him, and issued threats. Despite feeling "completely at risk," Arturo Hernández publicly called on the state to provide him with protection so he can continue his work.
Two days earlier, on 15 October, freelance journalist Leo Kumul reported having received death threats at his home in Cancun, a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, after reporting on two murders that took place in the last month in the state of Quintana Roo. Hours after the threat, the journalist reported the kidnapping of his father, who, according to official information, has been safely returned.
