Anabel HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA

On 17 May 2024, Mexican journalist and author Anabel Hernández García and Penguin Random House made public the attempts at censorship made against the book La historia secreta: AMLO y el Cartel de Sinaloa (Grijalbo, 2024) (The Secret History: AMLO and the  Sinaloa Cartel). At a press conference, the author and the publisher denounced the censorship of a radio commercial about the book. The radio advert was broadcast once, after which the publisher was told that it could only be broadcast if changes were made, including removing the author's name and the book's subtitle. 

The publisher also placed advertisements on billboards, but these were not allowed either. Anabel Hernández commented that she had never previously suffered censorship of this magnitude. 

Earlier, in April 2024, then President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the book ‘a vulgar and slanderous campaign’ and in May he accused the journalist of slander. 

Anabel Hernández is a prominent journalist with a career spanning 28 years. She is the author of six books, including Los señores del narco (The lords of the narcos, Grijalbo, 2010), La verdadera noche de Iguala (The real night of Iguala, Grijalbo, 2016) and El traidor (The Traitor, Grijalbo, 2019). In 2001 she received the National Journalism Award. In 2003 she was recognised by UNICEF, the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the EFE Agency and the Santillana Foundation for her research into Mexican girls trafficked and sexually exploited in agricultural fields in San Diego, California.