In Mexico "it is more dangerous to talk about the president of the republic than to talk about the drug cartels"

Anabel Hernández acknowledges having experienced many types of censorship in her long career as a journalist in Mexico. However, she denounced the Mexican government's actions preventing the publication of Elena Chávez's book El Rey del Cash about President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as "especially serious" and unprecedented.

Hernández, author of the book's prologue, denounced that "the type of censorship that El Rey de Cash is undergoing seems to me to be one of the most common types of censorship. It is very very serious and very worrisome that entities as important as the WTC, the Sótano bookstore and Camino Real Hotel (have canceled promotional events)".

Government threatens free expression

"Now is it more dangerous to talk about the president of the republic, to go to a public forum, than to talk about the drug cartels? Is that really the country we live in?" she asks.

In the face of this censorship, Hernández stressed the importance of freedom of expression: "This is not about Elena Chávez. Let there be no mistake. This is about freedom of expression and one of the universal rights defended by the UN: the right to information."

"Vengeful and spiteful disposition"

The author of the book acknowledged that "she is afraid" and thanked her colleagues and civil society for their support, thanks to which, she assures "the aggression has not gone beyond insults." Chávez fears that, at some moment, authorities may try to silence her by framing her for some type of crime. "It has not happened, but I believe and am sure, knowing [the president] and his vengeful and spiteful disposition, they are waiting for the chance" to frame her, the writer admitted.