In June 2017, Indigenous Ñomndaa’ journalist Marcela de Jesus Natalia found herself fighting for her life. A gunman waited for her outside the radio station where she worked and shot her three times.

“I didn’t think he wanted to kill me,” she said. “I turned around. The first bullet went to my forehead. I put my hand up, [and] the bullet went in and came out. The second one shattered my jaw. Then this guy held me, dragged me, gave me a final shot in my head and laid me on the pavement.”

Though at first presumed dead, Marcela de Jesús survived the attack and, with the support of lawyers and advocates, as well as of UN Human Rights, continues to fight for justice for the crime perpetrated against her. Marcela de Jesús was attacked because she angered powerful people by informing Indigenous Peoples about their rights, such as the importance of education, justice, and in particular, violence against women, thus empowering them to fight against historical discrimination against them.

“Journalists who expose wrongdoing and show us the horrific reality of conflict are human rights defenders,” said Volker Türk, UN Human Rights Chief, in a statement commemorating the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed every year on November 2. “Attacks against them affect everyone’s right to freedom of expression and access to information, leaving us all less well informed.”

In 2023, 71 journalists and media workers were killed and over 300 imprisoned around the globe, Türk said.

Marcela de Jesús is an Indigenous Ñomndaa’ woman born in Xochistlahuaca, in the state of Guerrero, on Mexico’s Pacific coast. From a young age, Marcela de Jesús witnessed violence and attacks by men in positions of power and even the military. It was there that her desire to defend her people was born and she realised that to confront abusers she needed to learn Spanish.

Marcela de Jesús migrated to the state of Oaxaca, and by her own efforts, she managed to continue studying and encountered a radio station that was looking for an Indigenous person from Guerrero who spoke Ñomndaa’ and Spanish and had completed middle school.

“I went behind my husband’s back, took the exam and passed,” she said. “I remember that the director [of the radio station] said to me, ‘Why do you want to be an announcer?’ ‘I always wanted to be the voice of my people,’ I answered.” Later, she returned to the state of Guerrero and got a precarious job as a radio announcer, but with patience and hard work she managed to become the radio manager.

It was after her return to her home state that she began to encounter opposition to her “voice.” Marcela de Jesús was told by powerful people in her town that she was not supposed to inform Indigenous Peoples; that the only thing they were interested in was whether a goat or a cow was lost, and not to get into trouble. She fought against and won lawsuits filed against her for giving Indigenous Peoples news.

It is my conviction that my people should be guaranteed the right that is enshrined in the Constitution and in international treaties, that we have the right to information.

“They couldn’t [silence me] because what is legal is legal. What is morally good is morally good. And that is the reason for the attack against me,” said Marcela de Jesús.

According to UN Human Rights in Mexico, at least five journalists and one media worker have been killed and one more media worker was disappeared this year because of their work. This continuous danger in which journalists have had to operate for years, led universal and regional human rights mechanisms to recommend to the Mexican State the creation of a Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.

…The gunman who shot Marcela de Jesus has been arrested and sentenced for his crime, but the ones who called for her shooting are still out there. She is hopeful for them to be brought to justice.

“I have a lot of faith that the alleged intellectual author will forget about me. I have faith that nothing is forever,” said Marcela de Jesús. She added: “Nothing and no one, not jail, not this attack with three bullets, takes away my desire to continue being the voice of my people, to continue with my activism, my defence of human rights. I am fulfilling my dream of being the voice of my people at the national and international level.”

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/11/i-always-wanted-be-voice-my-people

This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.