Voice of defiance: the Mexican radio journalist who refused to be silenced

When Mexican news anchor Carmen Aristegui was fired from a popular radio show after revealing a presidential scandal on air, it sparked an outpouring of anger and protests.

For millions of listeners Aristegui is a trusted voice cutting through government spin and corruption, and her absence left a void.

Now a new documentary charts the journey she made to overcome censorship and form a new independent news platform with a group of colleagues.

In Radio Silence, filmmaker Juliana Fanjul follows Aristegui over the 22 months it took her to get back on air while continuing her investigative work amid a slew of lawsuits, death threats and the murder of another prominent journalist.

Aristegui’s sacking in 2015 occurred against a backdrop of violence gripping Mexico and the disappearance of 43 students from the state of Guerrero, explains Fanjul.

“We were really concerned as a society to try and understand what was going on and her voice was very important. She was the first one to bring the families of those students on to the air and give them a voice.”

Aristegui was fired by her employer, the privately owned MVS Radio, over her demands that the company reinstate two colleagues who had been independently reporting on a scandal involving the then president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and his wife, and an opulent villa to be built by a Mexican consortium in exchange for a railway contract.

The project involved Chinese capital and, in the face of what was called the Casa Blanca or White House scandal, Peña Nieto was forced to cancel the contract and apologise to the Chinese government. When Aristegui was sacked, thousands of people gathered outside the radio station to protest.

Fanjul used to listen to Aristegui’s programme to keep abreast of developments in her native Mexico from her home in Switzerland. “When the mic was cut I was filled with rage,” she says. “Journalists were being killed and I thought if they are doing this to Carmen who is so well-known, things are really bad.”

“I thought instead of being anguished I should make a film and I went to Mexico to find her.”

Fanjul spent four years filming Aristegui, providing a rare insight into the woman whose name has become synonymous with press freedom in Mexico.

Her news programme had been a ratings hit. Yet no radio station offered her a job following her dismissal, such was the extent of government censorship. Instead, she set up on her own, and with the help of social media, continued to expose corruption.

Her investigations continued to make headlines around the world including her report headlined “From Plagiarist to President”, which alleged that Peña Nieto had plagiarised almost a third of his law degree thesis. Only one Mexican newspaper ran the story.

It led to an increasingly hostile climate for Aristegui and her colleagues. One explains: “Working with Carmen Aristegui entails being constantly under surveillance … under fire … by journalists who are pro-government or close to power.” Another reveals: “I imagined they were going to make me disappear.”

Through behind-the-scenes footage at her office, Aristegui is portrayed as a passionate workaholic, fiercely determined, but with a warmth and generosity towards her colleagues. She has an impressive 8.6 million Twitter followers but Fanjul says her private life is strictly guarded.

“Because of who she is, it is hard for her to trust people,” explains Fanjul. “It took a long time for her to let me in.”

When the filmmaker got rare access to her home, Aristegui described how her teenage son had become a target of government surveillance.

“The repression and scheming that took place to kick us off air, and later the constant legal attacks, led me to believe that it was much better for Emilio to leave Mexico, in a context in which his mum was publicly exposed to a scandal, where you never really know how it’s going to end.”

She says they were targeted by Pegasus spyware. “Whoever was behind the Pegasus attacks on a young teen’s iPhone, who was studying in the United States, displays a great degree of perversity,” she says. “Because it was clearly his mum they wanted to hurt.”

After a break-in at her office, chilling CCTV footage shows men opening drawers and stealing a computer. It contained sensitive information about a powerful politician that Aristegui had previously implicated in a prostitution ring.

“After the office was broken into, more than one journalist resigned. Paradoxically, each obstacle that appeared in Carmen’s way only strengthened her determination,” says Fanjul.

By 16 January 2017, Aristegui was back on air – on the internet from a sound-proofed booth in her small office.

The 2018 election saw the formation of a new government, and Aristegui received an offer from media company Grupo Radio Centro.

“It confirms the pressure was coming from the Peña administration to keep her off air,” says Fanjul.

Her newscast is now broadcast across several radio stations but she retains editorial autonomy. Her investigations continue to make waves, including allegations of corruption in the government’s national news agency.

“We wished things would change with the new government but now it is attacking her and there are smear campaigns,” Fanjul tells the Guardian. “Once more she has become the enemy.”

Radio Silence is streaming as part of the digital edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, and is available to watch in the UK and Ireland until 5 June.