Pamela Cerdeira

Do not speak ill of Rosarito

Not understanding journalism as a free exercise, especially coming from a woman, is both obtuse and sexist, common in our times.

Marinee is 32 years old. She has always wanted to be in the news and she feels in the way she talks about how she wants to see with her own eyes everything that is going on. Her fascination for adrenaline has a price: it is the price paid by the journalists who do their work in Tijuana, where in the last year alone Margarito Martinez and Lourdes Maldonado have been murdered. "I knew Lourdes Maldonado, we were from different generations. The last time I saw her was at Margarito's vigil, she was reluctant."

He remembers the violence in his state in different stages, the first in his adolescence. The daily scenes were made up of hanged and murdered people in nightclubs, which prevented him from entertaining himself as anyone his age would; even going for a swim in the mornings made him wonder if something might happen to him on the way. At 22, when he started practicing journalism, things were a little calmer. He has been back in Tijuana for four years and says: "we never felt safe, but it's not so intense anymore". However, his work has certain restrictions, neighborhoods he doesn't go to, hours he doesn't go out, or that report he had to cover accompanied by security. "We didn't know if they were going to shoot at us or throw rocks at us", so we do what we can: "without risking our lives or those of our loved ones".

Organized crime is at the root of the scenes of violence that blanket the city. Remember that before the death scenes were related to accidents, but now not much time goes by without encountering something caused by crime. However, organizations such as Artículo 19 have documented that a significant portion of the threats journalists receive come from officials. I ask you if you have faced any threats from authorities. For a while I used to go to Rosarito to cover the stories that were happening there. On several occasions, the then mayor would tell him: "don't talk bad about Rosarito anymore". It was until the message, sent through someone else, included the warning that they knew his family's address well; then he stopped covering those stories. The mayor thought, because he asked her on several occasions, that she was working for an opposition party. Not understanding journalism as a free exercise, and more so coming from a woman, is both obtuse and sexist, something common in our times.

"The week Lourdes was murdered I thought it was too late to be on the street. Marinee Zavala takes a closer look, checks her surroundings, tries not to work at night and doesn't speak ill (or well) of Rosarito.