"Community, Indigenous, and Afro-Mexican media outlets reported facing harassment, censorship, threats, and attacks from state and political party actors, amid violence, dispossession, and criminalization in their territories. In a collective statement, they demanded respect for their autonomy and direct participation in communications policy decisions.
The statement was issued following the National Meeting 'Sowing the Word, Harvesting Autonomy,' held from July 16 to 20 in Zautla, Puebla, with the participation of communicators from more than 15 states, belonging to Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities. There, an agreement was reached to build a framework of minimum rights for community, Indigenous, and Afro-Mexican communication.
The communicators warned of attacks such as prior censorship, discrediting, judicial harassment, kidnappings, and murders, which violate their right to freedom of expression and put their lives at risk. They affirmed that community media are not marginal actors, but an essential part of collective life and the defense of the territory."
