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Mexico\u2019s freedom of information institute, a government agency, said Thursday that it would start an investigation into the president\u2019s disclosure on national television of the personal cellphone number of a journalist for The New York Times.<\/p>\n
The investigation centers on a decision by President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador during a televised news conference on Thursday that left many aghast in Mexico, one of the deadliest<\/a> countries in the world for journalists. At least 128 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n During the news conference, Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador read aloud from an email from Natalie Kitroeff, The New York Times\u2019s bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. She had requested comment for an article<\/a> revealing that U.S. law enforcement officials had for years been looking into claims that allies of Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador met with and took millions of dollars from drug cartels.<\/p>\n In addition to railing against Ms. Kitroeff and identifying her by name, Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador publicly recited her phone number.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThis is tantamount to doxxing, illegal by Mexican privacy laws and places reporters at risk,\u201d Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said on X, the social media platform.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection, or INAI, said in a statement<\/a> that its investigation would seek to establish whether Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador had violated Mexican legislation protecting personal data. The institute runs Mexico\u2019s freedom of information system, which was created more than two decades ago to make government operations more transparent and curb abuses of power.<\/p>\n Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador, whose six-year term is coming to an end this year, has long maintained a confrontational relationship with the news media and regularly attacks journalists by name at his morning news conferences.<\/p>\n The move against a journalist for The Times follows weeks of attacks<\/a> on a reporter for ProPublica. It published a story last month detailing a separate investigation into accusations that drug cartels had donated millions to Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2006. The president called the reporter, Tim Golden, a \u201cpawn\u201d and \u201ca mercenary in the service\u201d of the Drug Enforcement Administration.<\/p>\n The Times\u2019s article on Thursday revealed a more recent inquiry during Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s presidency, which started in 2018. American law enforcement officials spent years looking into claims that confidants of Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador had received millions of dollars from drug cartels<\/a> while he ran the country, the article revealed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But instead of speaking to The Times about the American inquiry, the president decided to release Ms. Kitroeff\u2019s phone number on national television, a particularly threatening tactic in a country where so many journalists are harassed and killed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a troubling and unacceptable tactic from a world leader at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise,\u201d The Times said in a statement<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n The United States never opened a formal investigation into Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador, The Times reported, and the officials involved ultimately shelved the inquiry after concluding that the U.S. government had little appetite to pursue allegations against the leader of a key American ally.<\/p>\n During their inquiry, U.S. officials identified possible links between the cartels and Mr. L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s allies and advisers after he took office, but did not find any direct ties between the president himself and criminal groups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n