Rodrigo Cervantes/KJZZ

Leopoldo Maldonado is regional director in Mexico for Article 19, an international freedom of information organization.

MEXICO CITY — The State Department recently published an annual report on human rights, which points to a variety of issues in Mexico. The report cites high levels of impunity, attacks on human rights defenders and the media, as well as low rates of prosecution. Mexico’s president is questioning the State Department’s motives.

The report says Mexico’s high levels of impunity are fertile soil for killings or attacks on journalists. 

Using data from the international freedom of the press organization Article 19, it states the government’s news agency had ordered journalists to avoid content about some institutions and officials, while independent media are often self-censored due to fear of reprisal. 

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Mexico doesn’t give opinions about human rights violations in the U.S., questioning the State Department’s intentions.

He defended the director of Mexico’s state news agency and accused Article 19 of being financed by the U.S. government, foreign companies and antagonists. 

The State Department’s report also says journalists asking hard questions to the president are attacked on Twitter.