Mexico City, August 17 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Internationally renowned intellectual, writer, linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky and over 400 others signed and sent Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto a letter demanding “prompt and efficient clarification” of the deaths of Ruben Espinosa and other journalists.

Chomsky, Salman Rushdie, Paul Auster, Margaret Atwook, Homero Aridjis, and almost 500 more intellectuals and writers signed the letter which was published in Pen America Center, a regional branch of the world's writers association Pen International.

They also demanded that the government of Peña Nieto commit to “guaranteeing the freedom of expression in Mexico.” The group demanded Peña Nieto that authorities “carry out an investigation without contemplations of state and municipal officials, whom could have seen themselves involved in the crimes.”

Noam Chomsky and his colleagues also asked Peña Nieto to “immediately revise the mechanisms for protection of journalists.”

“Today, journalism around the world is living under siege: Mexican journalists, in particular, are living deadly dangers. Organized crime groups, corrupt government officials, and a justice system that has proven to be incapable of even determining the responsibility of the murderers, are just some of the causes of the extreme vulnerability of journalists,” the letter reads.

The crime against Espinosa and Veracruzan activist Nadia Vera – both of whom fled the southeastern state fearing for their lives due to their work and blaming the administration of Governor Javier Duarte for any attempts against them – has exposed another grave factor, the letter adds: “Mexico City use to be one of the very few safe places in the country to be a journalist. But now, there seems to be no safe haven for reporters being persecuted in Mexico.” 

In the state of Veracruz alone, the letter continues, 17 journalists have been killed and five more have been disappeared in an “atrocious manner.”

The letter condemned the fact that most of crimes against journalist go unpunished.  The intellectuals and writers also condemned that in most of the cases of killed journalists, Mexican authorities manipulate the investigation to veer away from their jobs as journalists as the cause for their homicides.