Nearly two years after a wave of popular uprisings began in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a lack of substantive institutional reform has left states struggling to maintain democratic achievements, according to a new Freedom House report. The findings illuminate reform failures that have contributed to recent violence across the MENA region.
Freedom House urges Mexican authorities to open an investigation into the disappearance of Mexican-American freelance journalist, Zane Alejandro Plemmons Rosales, who went missing in mid-May in Nuevo Laredo. The disappearance of another journalist in the northern states of Mexico illustrates the dire need for greater journalist protection mechanisms. Plemmons was a crime scene photographer who was working for newspaper El Debate, where he worked in Mazatlan covering the Sinaloa cartel.
Freedom House is deeply concerned for the safety of Mexican journalist Federico Manuel Garcia Contreras, who has been missing for a month, and urges local authorities to coordinate with the federal attorney’s office to conduct a swift and thorough investigation on the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. He had been a graphic reporter for local newspaper El Punto Critico and also worked for the radio show Voces del Mediodía.
Freedom House works to improve efforts by both local activists and the Mexican government to prevent and respond to attacks to the press, and enhance the availability of emergency assistance for at-risk journalists and activists.
