Mexico City – PEN Mexico has awarded its 2015 PEN Awards to Elena Poniatowska, Darío Ramírez, Federico Mastrogiovanni, Pablo Ferri and an anonymous Aristegui News reporter, in recognition of excellence in journalism, literature, and work in human rights.

This year’s recipients are: writer Elena Poniatowska, who has been a member of PEN Mexico for decades; an anonymous Aristegui journalist who revealed how the President of the PRI in Mexico City recruited women for sexual services with public money; the Italian journalist (based in Mexico) Federico Mastrogiovanni, who has researched forced disappearances in Mexico in works such as Ni vivos ni muertos (Neither alive nor dead); human rights defender Darío Ramírez, director of Article 19 for Mexico and Central America; and journalist Paul Ferri, who, thanks to his research, revealed that the Mexican Army executed 22 civilians in the town of Tlatlaya, Mexico State.

With these awards, PEN Mexico supports the importance of press freedom, freedom of expression and free thought for writers and journalists in the country, at a time when attacks on journalists by authorities and criminal groups are increasing.

The awards will be presented during the public protest PEN Pregunta, which will be held on 22 February at 12 noon, at Casa Lamm (Álvaro Obregón 99, col. Roma, Mexico, D.F.), with the participation of more than 30 authors from Mexico and other countries.

In addition, PEN Mexico is also announcing the second edition of PEN Piensa, a literary and journalistic platform that invites reflection and analysis of the current situation for freedom of expression in Mexico and Latin America. This editions includes contributions by: Héctor Abad Faciolince, Santiago Roncagliolo, Homero Aridjis, Víctor Manuel Mendiola, Wilbert Torre, Iván Ríos Gascón and Carlos Franz.