Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández was awarded the 2012 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize given by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Hernández was recognized for her investigative reporting on corruption and the abuse of power in Mexican politics, the association announced on its website on Thursday, March 1.
Hernández, who has received death threats, is author of the book The Drug Lords, which details the complicity between organized crime and authorities. She also has reported for the Mexican newspapers Reforma, Milenio, and El Universal, and the magazine EmeEquis. Currently she works for the site Reporte Índigo, WAN-IFRA explained.
In an interview she gave in 2011 to Quien Resulte Responsable TV, Hernández said she decided to pursue investigative journalism after her father was kidnapped and killed in Mexico City in December 2000.