Mexico City, August 19 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Mexican government has responded to Noam Chomsky's and almost 500 other international intellectuals' and writers' letter to President Enrique Peña Nieto demanding full clarity in the deaths of journalists in the country, specifically photojournalist Ruben Espinosa.

“The Mexican government is convinced that every crime must be combated and that every loss of human life to acts of violence must be clarified and punished,” stated Roberto Campa, Deputy Minister of the Interior in charge of Human Rights.

Mexico today is the second most dangerous country to be a journalist as 107 have been killed since 2000.  In contrast, less than 10 percent of the cases have resulted in the sentencing of a responsible party.  Mexico also has the second highest rate of impunity in the world.

Last Saturday, Chomsky and his co-signers sent Peña Nieto a letter demanding “prompt and efficient clarification” of the deaths of Espinosa and other journalists. Espinosa was executed earlier this month in Mexico City along with four other women. One of them, activist Nadia Vera, had also fled Veracruz due to death threats she received from the administration of Governor Javier Duarte. Espinosa also fled Veracruz for the same reasons. 

Campa said the government of Peña Nieto understands that crimes against activists and journalists have higher impact than the deaths of other people because it affects freedom of expression and the defense of civil rights.

Regarding the concern over the case of Espinosa and Vera being manipulated to seem as if the crime was robbery and not a Veracruz state government-sanctioned homicide against a journalist and activist, Campa said he spoke to Mexico City's Attorney General's office and was told “line of investigation is being ignored.”

The official also praised his government's measures to protect journalists and human rights defenders, but agreeing with many experts and analyst, London-based freedom of speech organization Article 19 said they were not enough.

Article 19 noted that during the first six months of 2015, the aggressions against journalists have risen 40 percent.