All over Mexico, journalists are murdered with impunity—10 in the year between the Dias des Muertos of 2024 and 2025, including two in Guanajuato. Who is responsible?

Come hear acclaimed author, scholar and former Mexican journalist Andrew Paxman discuss who’s behind these and dozens of previous killings! Hint: it’s not the usual suspects, the cartels or the federal government. Think state governors, who control state police and judiciary and have been abusing the power of their offices and setting the tone of impunity in their regions since the turn of the 20th century.

Andrew Paxman’s most recent book is Mexican Watchdogs: The Rise of a Critical Press since the 1980s (2025); previous books include the anthology Los gobernadores: Caciques del passado y del presente and Jenkins of Mexico: How a Southern Farm Boy Became a Mexican Magnate. He is research professor of history and journalism at Mexico’s Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), and is currently working on a biography of former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

San Miguel PEN is a chapter of PEN International, the organization of writers that defends freedom of expression around the world. Our winter lecture series, San Miguel PEN Presents, raises funds for our ongoing work, including support for journalists under threat of death as well as local literacy projects.

Tickets: 350 pesos or $20 USD donation

Tickets online at https://www.sanmiguelpen.com/

Also available at: Aurora Books, Tue-Sat 10AM-5PM, Calzada de la Aurora 48A.

And at the door.