This is a clear attempt to intimidate, silence and sow fear among those of us who practice journalism,” he expressed through his social networks. Last year, in Oaxaca, the organization Article 19 documented two aggressions against journalists, these being David Peralta Betanzos and Renán Martínez Casas. The first, a victim of an attempted murder, and the second, a victim of arbitrary detention and a discrediting campaign. Likewise, it documented that in 2024, Oaxaca registered 20 aggressions against the press, placing it among the 10 entities in the country with the highest number of this type of event. In its report “Informational Barriers: Challenges for Freedom of Expression and Access to Information”, it details that 19 were direct aggressions and one digital, which is “another open flank”. The main attacks against the press that year were intimidation and harassment, illegitimate use of public power, blocking or alteration of content, threats, physical attack, deprivation of liberty, attacks on material goods, removal of content and illegal access. By Diana Manzo On Monday night, the Oaxacan communicator, Oscar Merino Ruiz, 29 years old, director of the OM Noticias portal, was shot in the municipality of Pinotepa Nacional, local authorities reported. According to the newspaper ‘El Imparcial de Oaxaca’, the violent attack against the communicator occurred on Calle 5 Poniente, in the El Calvario neighborhood of that municipality located on the coast of Oaxaca. Authorities informed that the communicator was taken to a private clinic in Pinotepa Nacional, and his health condition is reported as serious. After the aggression, security elements arrived in the area and carried out the necessary searches to find the aggressors of Óscar Merino, however, they were not successful. To date, the Oaxaca Prosecutor's Office is carrying out the corresponding investigations to find out the reason for the violent aggression against the director of the OM Noticias portal. In this regard, reporter Rey David Jiménez García, director of the newspaper Salina Cruz sin Censura, expressed solidarity with the communicator after this violent attack. You may be interested > Mexico falls in press freedom index for ‘high restriction’, according to the SIP. 'What happened is not a minor incident.'
