Cancun journalist escapes attack

Mexico’s violence against journalists nearly claimed another victim, saved only when his attacker’s pistol malfunctioned in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun.

Netzahualcóyotl Cordero García, director general of the online news site CGNoticias, said the man told him Tuesday night in the street in front of his home, “I am going to kill you like a dog.”

Four journalists were murdered in Mexico in January.

When the 47-year-old Cordero García’s attacker tried to fix his gun, the bullet fell out, allowing the journalist to knock him off the bicycle he was riding. Neighbors came to Cordero García’s aid, wrestled away his gun and held him until the National Guard arrived to arrest him.

Cordero García said that he had been receiving threats by phone and message since last month. He noticed strangers passing his house in a grey vehicle and on motorcycles. So 10 days before the attack, he enrolled in the federal program to protect journalists known as the “mechanism” and was given a panic button in case of emergency.

“They want to silence me for my journalistic work,” he said, without specifying who he suspected was behind the attack. “I am very critical in my reporting, in my interviews.” He said after the attack he asked authorities to step up his security.

The Quintana Roo state prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation.

The Yucatan Times
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