A poster of murdered indigenous leader Berta Cáceres at a rally in Honduras in 2022

Dear reader,

Today is World Press Freedom Day.

I have covered a lot of tough stories in my years as a reporter, but my experience covering the murder trial of indigenous leader and environmentalist Berta Cáceres in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, stands out.

Berta had long faced death threats for leading opposition to land grabs and other human rights violations against Indigenous people, but a courageous campaign to stop an internationally financed hydroelectric dam was causing costly delays – so executives of the company building the project took out a hit on her and she was brutally killed.

My reporting on the powerful agencies and individuals linked to her assassination was not welcome. A group with alleged ties to military intelligence released statements falsely accusing me of connections to organised crime and terrorism, declaring me a persona non grata in Honduras. It was terrifying – but the threats made me even more determined to keep reporting and not let the country’s power brokers suppress the truth about Berta’s murder. The fact was, it was far less risky for me than for my brilliant Honduran colleagues who faced immense hardship, threats and censorship.

As a major international news organisation, the Guardian plays a crucial role getting the truth out from countries where a toxic mix of organised crime, corrupt governments and state-sponsored repression makes reporting extremely perilous.

We do our work alongside local journalists risking their lives to share their nations’ injustices with the world – and we can only do it because of support from readers like you.

If you are able to make a contribution this World Press Freedom Day to help fund our most high-risk journalism in the world’s most oppressive places, we would be extremely grateful. It takes less than a minute – and any amount you can spare helps.

One of the reporters whose courage has most moved me is investigative journalist María Teresa Montaño Delgado from the state of Mexico (Edomex), who I first met over a secure video call in late 2022. I was in New York City, while she was in exile in Barcelona thousands of miles away from her family: she had left her home country after being kidnapped at gunpoint.

The gunmen had ransacked her home for notebooks, files, laptops, camera and voice recorder containing evidence she’d gathered linking the state government to a massive corruption scheme. The hired thugs warned María Teresa to back off, or they would come back for her and her son.

It took more than six months to get the investigation over the line, but we were able to confirm what María Teresa had suspected: the Edomex officials had used dozens of front and shell companies to embezzle public money. The investigation caused shockwaves in Mexico just days before the state elections, resulting in the governing party losing control of Edomex for the first time in almost a century. María Teresa won several awards for her courageous journalism.

It was a Guardian story – but it was a joint effort. The reporting took me and my trusted driver Samuel to farflung towns controlled by criminal gangs, including visiting addresses listed by businesses that had been awarded multimillion-dollar contracts. I worked with colleagues in other media outlets to develop sources and painstakingly cross-check names, dates and companies.

Mexico is one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists, where more than 50 colleagues have been murdered since 2018, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Countless others like María Teresa have been threatened, harassed, and attacked. In most cases, it is local reporters with few resources who are exposing corruption and organised crime in their towns and states that are targeted.

When reporting abroad, I rely heavily on my local colleagues and feel strongly that we at the Guardian have a responsibility to support them in exposing wrongdoing – and to reveal the threats they face.

If you’re able to help us with this kind of reporting by supporting the Guardian today, we’d be extremely grateful.

Thank you,
Nina Lakhani
Senior reporter, the Guardian