Marcela Turati (1976) is a Mexican freelance journalist. Since the beginning of Mexico's war on drug trafficking, she has been reporting on human rights violations and, more specifically, on disappearances in Mexico, a phenomenon that has led to tens of thousands of people going missing across the country. Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been killed, according to figures from Reporters Without Borders.
Laureate Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression 2019
Marcela Turati is a Mexican freelance journalist, co-founder of the Periodistas de a pie journalism network and the El Quinto Elemento Lab online research portal. Since the start of Mexico's war on drug trafficking, she has been reporting on human rights violations and, more specifically, on the tens of thousands of disappearances in Mexico. Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been killed, according to figures from Reporters Without Borders.
Turati has been working as a journalist for more than 20 years, reporting on topics such as drug trafficking, femicide and the disappearance of students. She has been a correspondent for various Mexican and international media outlets, including Proceso, The New York Times and The Guardian. In 2011, she co-founded the independent media channel Periodistas de a pie (Journalists on Foot) to support citizen journalism in Mexico. Turati has received numerous awards for her journalism and activism, including Columbia University's 2013 Maria Moors Cabot Prize for her reporting on human rights and social justice in Latin America. She has also been recognised for her work on behalf of the families of missing persons and for her advocacy for the protection of journalists in Mexico. On 3 May 2019, she received the honorary title for freedom of expression from the VUB and ULB during Difference Day.
In 2016, Mexican authorities launched a secret investigation against Ana Lorena Pérez, Marcela Turati and Mercedes Doretti, human rights defenders working with families of missing migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas. They were targeted by the Mexican organised crime investigation unit. Instead of investigating mass disappearances, officials misused resources to monitor and criminalise these women. They were accused of serious crimes such as organised crime and kidnapping, without any evidence. This violated their rights to privacy, freedom of expression, non-discrimination and a fair trial. In January 2025, Mexico's Attorney General officially dismissed all proceedings against them, partly under pressure from activists who brought these injustices to light.
Turati considers the Honorary Title to be an important source of support, but she does not regard the award as being for herself, but rather for Mexican journalists who are still demanding justice for other colleagues who have been killed. Turati works mainly with victims of violence, but she also writes articles for foreign media, for example about Mexican journalists in exile. She has written about the need for emotional and psychological care for journalists. As with the reporting on the search for mass graves, the fact that she visited families of missing relatives every week and saw how they found the bodies, skeletons and body parts. There are about twenty families in Mexico who dig up graves. "You walk with them, the kidnappers are there to watch you. Sometimes it's horrible because of what you see... I learned about genetic testing, forensic investigation, charred bodies, multiple body fragments, dissolved bodies.‘ For Turati, independent journalists are part of a ’real-time truth commission". ‘When you meet parents who are truly sad and broken and share what they are going through, it is part of your job to work with them, document, investigate and bring some cases to court.’
Turati sometimes receives threats. One of her family members received a phone call saying that she would be kidnapped. At the time, she was investigating the murder of journalist Gregorio Jiménez. He was kidnapped in front of his family. After the threat, she left the country for several weeks. ‘Because no one is brought to justice, others are encouraged to silence journalists. It is therefore very cheap to murder a journalist.’
Turati continues to campaign for the government to be held accountable and for impunity to be combated. She and her supporters have done a lot: protests, symbolic gestures, cooperation with the UN, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and international NGOs, but it seems that nothing is happening. The international community should put pressure on the Mexican government by imposing human rights obligations. According to Turati, the problem is that Mexico is ruled by politicians who openly criticise the press on national television, saying that the press is the enemy. People have come to accept this way of talking about the media as normal. The press is attacked on social media and photos and email addresses of journalists who have asked uncomfortable questions are published. Female journalists in particular are attacked, including for their appearance.
Sources: Amnesty International, Internationale Federatie van Journalisten, VUB Today.
