BanderasNews
Puerto Vallarta Weather Report
Welcome to Puerto Vallarta's liveliest website!
Contact UsSearch
Why Vallarta?Vallarta WeddingsRestaurantsWeatherPhoto GalleriesToday's EventsMaps
 NEWS/HOME
 EDITORIALS
 AT ISSUE
 OPINIONS
 ENVIRONMENTAL
 LETTERS
 WRITERS' RESOURCES
 ENTERTAINMENT
 VALLARTA LIVING
 PV REAL ESTATE
 TRAVEL / OUTDOORS
 HEALTH / BEAUTY
 SPORTS
 DAZED & CONFUSED
 PHOTOGRAPHY
 CLASSIFIEDS
 READERS CORNER
 BANDERAS NEWS TEAM
Sign up NOW!

Free Newsletter!
Puerto Vallarta News NetworkTravel Writers' Resources | July 2006 

Reporters Without Borders Link Drug Traffickers with Mexican's Abduction
email this pageprint this pageemail usEric Green - NewsBlaze


Reporters Without Borders also concerned about jailed Cuban journalist's fate.

Mexican judicial officials believe a Mexican journalist who has been missing since July 8 probably was kidnapped by drug traffickers, says the Paris-based press advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders.

In a July 24 statement, the press group said Rafael Ortiz Martinez, who disappeared in Monclova in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, had written at least five reports about drug trafficking in that Mexican city and the surrounding region.

Reporters Without Borders said if Ortiz Martinez actually was abducted by drug traffickers, the organization "would be extremely concerned" about his fate. The group said drug trafficking has become a "virtually untouchable subject for Mexican journalists, who have to choose between censoring themselves or putting their lives in danger."

Reporters Without Borders urged Mexican authorities to launch an investigation of the reporter's disappearance, "given the gravity of this case."

Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira Valdes said that drug traffickers often use abduction as a way to intimidate the media, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The press group said the case resembles that of Alfredo Mota, from the newspaper El Imparcial in the city of Hermosillo, who disappeared in April 2005 in the northern Mexican state of Sonora after investigating drug trafficking.

The Miami-based Inter-American Press Association and the Organization of American States also have expressed concern about the disappearance of Ortiz Martinez.

The U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005, released March 8, quoted press advocacy groups as saying Mexico's northern states on the U.S. border "were particularly hazardous for journalists, particularly for those covering crime and drug trafficking."

Cuban Journalist Remains Imprisoned Without Being Charged With Crime Reporters Without Borders also expressed concern about Cuban independent journalist Oscar Mario Gonzalez Paz, who soon could be tried on a charge of disturbing the peace, which is punishable by up to a year in prison. The journalist has been imprisoned for more than a year without being charged with a crime.

Reporters Without Borders said Gonzalez was arrested during a July 2005 crackdown on the press after a peaceful opposition demonstration outside the French Embassy in Havana. The press group said Gonzalez's conditions of detention are "very bad," that he has been moved from one place to another seven times since his arrest, and that his health problems are not being treated properly. (See related article.)

The United States has joined other members of the international community in denouncing the Cuban regime's holding of independent journalists and calling for their immediate release.

A report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said restoring freedom of the press in Cuba "will be essential to securing free and fair multiparty elections for the people" of that nation.

The report, released July 10, said U.S. policy toward Cuba has reflected the importance of a free media in that country, "providing rhetorical and concrete assistance to independent and dissident journalists on the island." (See related article.)

The Mexico section of the State Department report is available on the department's Web site, as is the full text of the report.

Source: U.S. Department of State

alan@newsblaze.com



In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes • m3 © 2008 BanderasNews ® all rights reserved • carpe aestus