Diego Luna: ‘There is violence against journalists and impunity because nothing is done about it’ | Culture

On May 15, 2017, journalist javier valdez was stopped by a white vehicle while driving in Culiacán, Mexico. Two hooded men took him out of his car and spoke with him for several minutes, according to testimonies collected by the Sinaloa Prosecutor’s Office. In his final moments, Valdez was found kneeling with his hands on his thighs and wearing a hat, an image that haunts the memory of one of the bravest reporters covering drug-related violence in the region. They shot him 12 times. The case “should have been a watershed” to talk about justice, security and protection of journalists, but it was not.

Like much of Mexican society, filmmaker diego luna has experienced violence firsthand. The Valdez case raised the question of how bad things have to get before the public gets involved. “It is important that we understand that what journalists in our country are going through affects us all in some way,” says Luna, actor and producer of the documentary. silent state. “It is as if that were the starting point of this project that shows us what is behind the news that reaches us. That was one of the objectives: to point out who is involved; to make us understand, even a little, the scope of the Serious violence in Mexico..”

Directed by Santiago Maza and produced by La Corriente del Golfo, a company owned by Luna and her fellow Mexican actor. Gael García BernalThe documentary was released on the Netflix platform on October 17.

It profiles four journalists who have risked their lives to reveal the pain and fear generated by two decades of violence unleashed by the so-called war on drugs. They are both investigators and victims. The description of their working lives highlights the plight of press freedom that is currently under siege in the country.

Luna explains that the initial idea was a series that would narrate the multiple cases of violence against journalists that occur throughout the country. However, according to Maza, there was reluctance among the chain’s bosses, considering it a “political and complicated” issue. Luna then found a way around this problem by presenting the idea as a documentary. Maza chose four floors. “These characters help us understand the different approaches of journalists that we all experience brutal violenceprecariousness and absolute loneliness,” says Luna.

Journalists Jesús Medina, Marcos Vizcarra, Juan de Dios García Tavish and María de Jesús Peters explain the violence and its reasons in different regions of Mexico. The idea was to encourage the public to connect and realize that wherever they are, there is a journalist at risk.

Vizcarra is one of the many voices that continue to demand justice for Valdez’s murder. “It is sad that we cannot do our work because this violence exists and will remain,” he says in the documentary. “The problem with all newsrooms is that no one teaches us how to report on pain. They didn’t care about Regina (Martínez), Miroslava (Breach) or Javier Valdez. In Mexico they don’t care about anyone.”

the title of Silent state – which was presented in Tribeca, in the United States, at the Guadalajara Film Festival and at the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, in the United Kingdom, reflects the complicity of local and regional authorities in the violence unleashed by organized crime. The result is “silenced zones,” where kidnappings, assaults and murders of journalists keep things that way.

silent state is an examination of “narcopolitics” in Mexico, with a look at corruption and the participation of the State in the deaths and disappearances of journalists in specific periods, such as the six-year term of Felipe Calderón, when the war against the drug cartels began. . ; he Culiacanazo in 2019 – A battle between the Sinaloa cartels and the Mexican army. after the capture of Ovidio Guzmanson of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán; he disappearance of the 43 students from Ayotzinapa in 2014 and the constant friction between the government and journalists during the recent presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Both Maza and Luna hope that the dynamic will change with The new government of President Claudia Sheinbaum. “The documentary accurately portrays the violence that we have experienced for decades,” says Luna. “It is a violence that has increased and has become more complex for various reasons. I think the documentary is a snapshot of what the country is experiencing; the levels of impunity in cases of violence against journalists…. These things happen because nothing is done.”

Luna highlights that it is no coincidence that silent state It premieres in a year of elections and change of government in Mexico. Luna believes that the relationship between the State and the press can change, but it implies the involvement of the public, private initiatives and media heads to ensure access to free information and “guarantee democracy.”

“This is a documentary that Marcos Vizcarra said would be fantastic if it didn’t exist, if we didn’t have to do it,” says Maza. “In the six years since we started, we have not once taken our eyes off the situation. While we were filming, the violence continued and continues today. This is a project that we believe is necessary to encourage reflection on a systemic problem, so that we do not have to create another one.”

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