Press group calls on Mexican president to stop attacks

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Inter American Press Association is calling on Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to halt a days-long series of verbal attacks on a Mexican journalist. The press freedom group said Monday the president’s attacks on TV, radio and print columnist Carlos Loret are harmful amid an unprecedented upswing in killings of journalists in Mexico. López Obrador has published charts showing how much Loret allegedly earns, and has called him and others who publish critical articles “thugs, mercenaries, sellouts.” The group called on the president to “immediately suspend the aggressions and insults because such attacks from the top of power encourage violence against the press.”