Journalists under harassment: Veracruz uses gender violence law to censor critical media outlets

XALAPA, Veracruz (Proceso).– The concept of political violence based on gender is being used in Veracruz as a legal tool to sanction and silence journalists and media outlets, generating concern among organizations that defend freedom of expression such as Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP).

In recent months, at least nine journalists have been sanctioned and face measures such as fines of up to 10,000 pesos, content removal, public apologies, and inclusion in the register of sanctioned individuals.

Sanctions have also been issued against 22 other media outlets and one academic who issued critical opinions about the ruling.

The Specialized Regional Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch (TEPJF) issued the most severe sanction, ruling that five journalists from various media outlets committed political gender-based violence against Mara Yamileth Chama Villa, the former candidate for municipal president of Teocelo, based on content published since 2021.

Although some publications only mentioned the relationship with his father—then mayor of Teocelo—all were punished equally, without distinguishing context or tone.

In May 2024, Chama Villa was a multi-member candidate for federal deputy for the PVEM party and filed a complaint alleging that, from her participation in the 2020-2021 regular electoral process—in which she was a candidate for municipal president—until the last 2023-2024 federal electoral process, she suffered political violence based on gender due to the publication of newspaper articles.

The Specialized Regional Chamber of the TEPJF ruled that the journalists committed political violence against women by publishing content that reinforced gender stereotypes and minimized the complainant's political career.

The ruling states that the articles, columns, blogs, and a radio spot subordinated her candidacy to the figure of her father, then mayor of Teocelo, thereby obscuring her own merits. "Expressions such as 'fulfilling his whim,' 'inheriting the position,' and 'the green girl' were identified, which the court considered to be forms of symbolic, media, verbal, digital, psychological, analogical, and interposed violence."

Although the kinship case did not represent a violation of the law in 2021, the recent constitutional reform prohibiting so-called "electoral nepotism" has given new relevance to the debate.

This reform, approved by Congress last April, establishes that no person can run for elected office if, in the previous three years, they have had a relationship of kinship, marriage, or common-law relationship with a sitting official.

However, when the allegations occurred, such legislation did not yet exist.

Regarding the sentencing of journalists, one of the judges' dissenting opinions cautioned that, to establish journalist liability, it was necessary to prove that the old content had a concrete effect on the 2024 election.

The judge warned that this imposes an unreasonable burden on the media, requiring them to review all their historical archives to predict whether they might affect future candidacies, something he considered unfeasible and jeopardizing press freedom.

Political violence against women has been defined in federal and state legislation as actions or omissions directed at women based on gender, with a disproportionate impact that affects, nullifies, or violates their political and electoral rights.

Radio Teocelo, unprecedented sanction

Regarding the sentence, journalist Élfego Riveros of Radio Teocelo believes that the sanction imposed on the community media outlet for using political violence represents an unprecedented event in its more than 60 years of existence.

The sanction is based on a one-minute satirical spot, broadcast in 2021 during the electoral process, which—according to Riveros—criticizes bad practices such as nepotism, grass-roots peddling, and inherited candidacies.

"We ran that spot three times, and that's where this whole onslaught comes from, which now has us complying with remedial measures: fines, public apologies, and everything else required by law," he explains.

"We are complying with this under protest because we disagree. Ultimately, it limits our freedom of expression and our audiences' right to information," says Riveros.

It also explains that the media outlet has received at least eight requests from the Electoral Tribunal and the Local Public Electoral Body (OPLE), including for social media posts by supportive individuals.

"We're practically unable to speak, unable to say anything. They continue to punish us even for what others say."

He believes the sanction is intended to politically punish the media outlet for its critical role in local public life: "It's a kind of political revenge against a media outlet that has ripped off their mask. Why is a small radio station bothering them? Because we're the only outlet that reports on who they are and what they've done while in power."

Manipulation of the term “gender violence”

Following that ruling, the case escalated. Mara Yamileth, who also ran for mayor of Teolcelo for the PVEM-Morena alliance in the last June 1 election, filed new complaints of gender-based violence.

On June 6, she reported gender-based violence following comments made by academic Celia del Palacio, coordinator of the Freedom of Expression Observatory at the University of Guadalajara.

Then, on June 28, the Veracruz Electoral Tribunal (TEV) ordered 22 media outlets and social media profiles to remove articles reporting his intention to run for the local presidency, but the court went further: it also sanctioned critical publications, considering the TEPJF's ruling against five journalists to be unfair.

Academic Celia del Palacio was sanctioned for broadcasting an editorial—removed from Channel 44 by order of the OPLE (National Electoral Tribunal)—in which she commented on the sanction against journalists for misusing the term "political violence based on gender." She never directly referred to the complainant nor used offensive language.

In an interview with Proceso, the academic questions the fact that she was never personally notified of the decision: "I find this very serious. They tell me, 'Notify me by court order,' meaning I have to acknowledge it, who knows how?"

Del Palacio warns of the overuse of legislation enacted to protect women from political violence:

This is a law that was created to protect women from truly misogynistic attacks. The fact that this figure is being exploited so much (...) is a very over-the-top, very strange interpretation of that law.

The academic points out that the case is part of a worrying national trend, in which people who are not favored in the elections use these figures to punish critical voices.

He also warns that misuse of the law "discredits the figure" and weakens it, when it is truly needed in serious cases of real political violence.

Criminalization of criticism

Luis Ramírez, executive secretary of the Veracruz Journalists Commission, also believes that the concept of gender-based political violence is being used to inhibit journalistic criticism in electoral processes and called on Congress to review the legal framework.

Ramírez confirmed that at least nine journalists have been prosecuted under this charge. "The sentence requires them to pay a fine... some colleagues were unable to approach the commission, but those who did were provided legal advice and support all the way to the Supreme Court."

From the CEAPP, he defended the role of the press as a counterweight in democracy and questioned the permissiveness with which the courts have admitted complaints without strict criteria: "How much should the authorities accept questioning from the press? As long as they don't falsify information, there's no major problem. If your father, your mother, your uncle were behind you... it's logical that anyone would ask if that doesn't constitute a form of cacique rule."

Ramírez announced that they will seek a meeting with Representative Bertha Ahued, president of the Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists in the Veracruz Congress, to explain the situation and propose legal adjustments.

In Veracruz, more than 40 journalists and organizations spoke out against these resolutions in an open letter, describing the sanctions as a measure that violates freedom of expression and sets a worrying precedent for the practice of journalism.

"Imposing sanctions without understanding the dynamics of reporting, and without considering the structural inequality between those who report and those in power, constitutes a disproportionate act," they warned.

For its part, the organization Article 19 expressed its concern about the cases and emphasized that in electoral contexts, freedom of expression is a specially protected right, as it guarantees citizens access to relevant information about candidates, family ties, backgrounds, and public behavior.

The removal of content violates citizens' right to "receive any information and know the expression of others' thoughts."

Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ's representative in Mexico, warned that the sentences in the Veracruz case and others in the country, such as that of journalist Héctor De Mauleón, are clear examples of judicial harassment, with politicians abusing the law to silence critical journalism, an increasingly common phenomenon in Mexico.

While the pronouncements continue, Mara Yamileth Chama Villa, former Morena candidate for mayor of Teocelo, Veracruz, filed a challenge to the municipal election held on June 1. In a message to the public last June, she denounced a systematic campaign of gender-based political violence, threats, and misuse of public resources during the electoral process.

The former candidate blamed media outlets and other actors for having disseminated attacks that, according to her, were judicially recognized as political violence by the Specialized Regional Chamber of the TEPJF (Spanish Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary) in file SRE-PSC-8/2025.

Chama Villa asserted that the conditions under which the election took place "nullify its democratic validity and constitute a dangerous precedent."