International
China, Israel and Burma, the countries in the world with the most journalists imprisoned in 2024
China, Israel and Burma were the countries that imprisoned the most journalists in 2024, a year that, according to the annual census prepared by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) published this Thursday, left at least 361 communication professionals under bars worldwide.
The figure for last year, for which it was counted until December 1, is the second highest since the CPJ has records, and is close to the record of 370 journalists imprisoned in 2022.
Last year, China (50 people), Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (43) and Burma (35) were the places where more journalists were imprisoned for their work, followed by Belarus (31), Russia (30), Egypt (17), Eritrea (16), Iran (16), Vietnam (16) and Azerbaijan (13), according to the CPJ.
“The main causes of imprisonment of journalists in 2024 – the year in which more than a hundred new imprisonments occurred – were continued authoritarian repression (China, Burma, Vietnam, Belarus, Russia), war (Israel, Russia) and political or economic instability (Egypt, Nicaragua, Bangladesh),” explains this organization, based in New York, in its annual report.
Throughout this document, the CPJ recalled that countries such as China, Belarus or Burma usually appear in its classification, and criticized Israel’s role as a jailer of journalists, especially since the beginning of the war in Gaza, on October 7, 2023, more than 15 months ago.
“Israel, a multi-party parliamentary democracy that rarely appeared in the CPJ’s annual prison census (…) catapulted to second place last year by trying to silence the coverage of the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the organization said.
Politics, human rights and corruption are the thematic areas covered by most of the journalists imprisoned last year, according to the CPJ. A record where sports journalism and crimes/events appear with the least number of professionals under bars.
As for the alleged crimes committed by the communicators, the vast majority was accused of working to attack the Government (228 cases), others were accused of working driven by some kind of ‘reprisals’ (57), of spreading false news (41) or defamation (16), mainly.
In almost half of the cases of the 361 imprisoned journalists, the sentence is still to be resolved; while in 17% of them they were sentenced to sentences between 1-5 years; 15% between 5-10 years; and another 15% have sentences of more than 10 years.
The 2024 CPJ census also shows that 94% of the imprisoned journalists are part of the local press and that they are usually (in 61% of cases) on staff with some of these media.
In addition, 84% of journalists taken to prison last year were men.
Internacionales
Jalisco’s grim discovery: drug cartel mass grave found in construction site
A mass grave was discovered in a residential area under construction in the municipality of Zapopan, part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco.
“After analyzing the recovered remains, they correspond to 34 individuals,” said a state official during a press conference. Jalisco has one of the highest numbers of missing persons in Mexico, largely due to the activity of drug cartels.
As of May 31, official data shows that Jalisco has recorded 15,683 missing persons, according to the state prosecutor’s office. Authorities attribute most of these cases to criminal organizations, which often bury or cremate their victims clandestinely.
“The construction company notified us at the end of February after discovering some remains,” explained the official, González, adding that excavation efforts have been ongoing since then.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) operates in the region and was designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Washington has accused CJNG and the Sinaloa cartel of being the main sources of fentanyl trafficking, a synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S.
Mexico has accumulated more than 127,000 missing persons, most of them since 2006, when the federal government launched a heavily criticized military-led anti-drug offensive.
International
U.S. targets families of sanctioned drug traffickers with new Visa restrictions
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday a new visa restriction policy targeting the family members and close associates of individuals sanctioned for drug trafficking, as part of efforts to combat the spread of fentanyl.
Overdoses from this synthetic opioid remain the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 44. According to official sources, more than 220 overdose deaths are reported daily in 2024, and over 40% of Americans know someone who has died from opioid-related causes.
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy (…) which will apply to close family members and personal or business associates of individuals sanctioned for drug trafficking,” Rubio said in a statement.
International
White House claims challenged as most ICE arrests in LA involve non-criminals
Nearly seven out of ten people arrested during immigration raids in Los Angeles from June 1 to June 10 had no criminal record, contradicting White House claims that the raids targeted “criminals,” according to an analysis published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.
Around 722 individuals were detained in the Los Angeles metropolitan area during the first ten days of June, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated the raids, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project of the University of California Berkeley School of Law.
The Los Angeles Times analysis found that 69% of those arrested during this period had no criminal record, and 58% had never been charged with any crime.
These figures contradict the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which said in a statement Tuesday that since June 6, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched an operation “to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens.”
DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin warned that the arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s promise to secure the border by deporting criminals, including drug traffickers in Los Angeles, without providing further details.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass criticized last week in a CNN interview that although the White House said it would target violent criminals, the raids had focused on workers.
“This wasn’t a drug den, it was a Home Depot,” Bass said, questioning the locations where raids were conducted.
Activists have also denounced the raids for targeting vulnerable workers who are easy to detain.
The Los Angeles Times analysis found that the average age of those arrested was 38, mostly men. Nearly 48% were Mexican, 16% Guatemalan, and 8% Salvadoran.
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