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Mexico’s government agency, the Institute for Freedom of Information, announced Thursday that it is opening an investigation into the president’s disclosure of a New York Times reporter’s personal cell phone number to state television.
The investigation centers on President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s decision in a televised press conference on Thursday that sent many shockwaves in Mexico, one of the countries with the highest death tolls in the world for journalists. ing. At least 128 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2006, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
During the press conference, López Obrador read an email from Natalie Kitroev, the New York Times’ Mexico, Central America and Caribbean bureau chief. She published an article revealing that U.S. law enforcement officials had been investigating for years allegations that López Obrador’s allies met with and received millions of dollars from drug cartels. I was looking for comment.
In addition to abusing Kitroev and identifying her by name, López Obrador recited her phone number in public.
“This amounts to an identity theft, is illegal under Mexican privacy laws, and puts journalists at risk,” Jean-Albert Husen, Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said on social media platform X.
Mexico’s National Institute for Transparency, Information Access and Personal Data Protection (INAI) stated: statement It said the investigation would aim to establish whether López Obrador violated Mexican laws protecting personal data. The institute administers Mexico’s Freedom of Information System, which was created more than 20 years ago to increase transparency in government operations and curb abuse of power.
López Obrador, whose six-year term ends this year, has long maintained a hostile relationship with the media, regularly attacking journalists by name at morning news conferences.
The move against the Times reporter follows weeks of attacks on reporters at ProPublica, which reported last month that drug cartels spent millions of dollars on López Obrador’s failed 2006 presidential campaign. It published an article detailing a separate investigation into accusations of donations. The president made this call. Reporter Tim Golden was a “pawn” and a “mercenary” for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Thursday’s Times article revealed a more recent investigation into López Obrador’s presidency that began in 2018. U.S. law enforcement officials have spent years investigating claims that López Obrador’s confidants received millions of dollars from drug cartels while he ran them. country, the article revealed.
But instead of telling the Times about the American investigation, the president decided to publish Mr. Kitroev’s phone number on state television. This is a particularly intimidating tactic in a country where so many journalists are harassed and killed.
“This is a troubling and unacceptable tactic by world leaders at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise,” the Times said in a statement Thursday.
The Times reported that the U.S. never opened a formal investigation into López Obrador, and officials involved said the U.S. government had little appetite to pursue allegations against the leader of a key U.S. ally. They concluded that there was no such thing and ultimately shelved the investigation.
In their investigation, U.S. officials identified possible ties to cartels between López Obrador’s allies and advisers since taking office, but they found no direct links between the president himself and criminal organizations. Ta.
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