Murder Suspects Detained / Airports Operated by SEDENA, SEMAR

Five suspects detained for the murder of Margarito Martínez. Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Minister of National Defense, informed that last night, five suspects were apprehended for the murder of Mexican journalist Margarito Martínez. Sandoval said that the arrest was thanks to intelligence forces: the Security Ministry, the Navy, the Military and the National Guard.

Margarito Martínez, a freelance photojournalist, was shot and killed on Jan. 17 in Tijuana. In recent weeks, journalists, families and NGOs have protested against the murders of Mexican journalists, a major issue that has lingered under López Obrador’s government. Since 2000, 150 journalist murders (138 men and 12 women) have been documented in the country, with motives possibly related to their work. Of the total, 47 were registered during the previous term of President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and 30 during the López Obrador administration (2018-2024). Besides Martínez, Lourdes Maldonado, José Luis Gamboa, Roberto Toledo and Heber López were also murdered in Tijuana.

Presidential airplane. President López Obrador notified that the presidential plane, a TP-01 Boeing 787-8, has not been sold yet. If a buyer is not found, the airplane will operate for the enterprise Olmeca Maya Mexica.

When López Obrador became president, he decided to raffle the presidential airplane. Originally, the raffle was scheduled for Sept. 15, 2020. However, the project was eventually cancelled and the plane went back on sale. López Obrador said that the money obtained from the sale of the plane would go to the purchase of medical devices to improve public hospitals. There were two potential buyers, one offered to pay half in kind with medical devices and the other half with money, while the second buyer made a cash-only offer. Still, the airplane has not been sold to this day.

Security concerns in Colima. López Obrador promised to guarantee the security of the Colima population against actions from organized crime. “You have all the support of the federal government. We are going to inform about Colima’s security state,” he said to Indira Vizcaíno, Governor of Colima, adding that “she is not alone.”

Colima ranks No. 1 in homicides at the national level for every 100,000 habitants, according to Luis Cresencio Sandoval, Minister of National Defense. Last year, 947 events were reported.  

AMLO condemns Russian invasion. President López Obrador assured that Mexico’s position on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be defended by the Security Council. The president declared this week that Mexico’s policy of nonintervention and self-determination will be followed and respected. “We do not accept that a country invades another. There is no reason for that and it is contrary to international law. This is the policy that Mexico has adopted.”

Yesterday Russia invaded Ukraine after months of rising tensions. Despite diplomatic attempts to improve the situation, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to attack Ukraine and launched a special military operation claiming that it was to protect Russians who are being killed in Ukraine.