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 News from Around the Americas | November 2006 
U.S. Wants Probe of Journalist's Killing in Mexico
 Dudley Althaus - Houston Chronicle
| | A friend of U.S. based independant journalist Brad Will is consoled in front of the Mexican consulate during a protest against Will's death, in New York October 30, 2006. The demonstration against Will's death last week in Oaxaca, Mexico, where he was killed after being caught in crossfire during a protest against Governor Ulises Ruiz, saw about 150 people turn up, resulting in some arrests. (Reuters/Erin Siegal) |
In the wake of prosecutors' allegations that leftist activists killed American journalist Brad Will in southern Oaxaca state last month, U.S. officials are pushing for a full investigation.
"We are awaiting results of the investigation and we have made it known that we expect the investigation to be rigorous," a U.S. official with knowledge of the case said Friday, on the condition of anonymity.
Will, 36, was killed by two bullets on October 27 as pro-government gunmen attacked a protesters' barricade in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Oaxaca, capital of the state of the same name. Two men, both city employees with ties to embattled state Gov. Ulises Ruiz's Institutional Revolutionary Party, have been arrested and charged with the crime.
But state Attorney General Lizbeth Caña and police investigators alleged in a press conference earlier this week that Will was actually shot at close range that "proved" the accused men could not have shot him. Instead, they accused leftist activists with whom Will was standing of committing the crime.
Teachers' strike
Several Mexican journalists were injured in the same shooting that killed Will. And two other protesters were killed by gunmen elsewhere the same day. At least 12 people have been killed, all of them dissidents, since the strife began as a teachers' strike in May.
Leaders of the activists' organization — widely known by its acronym, APPO — angrily denied the charges. They accused state officials of a cover-up. Cana was appointed by Ruiz.
The governor has suggested he would remove Cana and other controversial state officials as part of a deal being offered to the dissidents. But his opponents insist they'll continue their protest until Ruiz steps down.
Despite the intervention of thousands of federal police following Will's death, the standoff continues. With Ruiz refusing appeals to leave from even within his own party, police hold the city's central plaza and patrol streets while activists man barricades in some parts of the city and stage protests there and in Mexico City.
Will had come to Oaxaca earlier in October to file stories on the nearly six-month-old crisis for Indymedia.org, an Internet-based alternative news service. Journalists who file reports on Indymedia contend that it fills a void left by for-profit media outlets, which they consider biased in favor of government and business interests.
Will's reports on the website were openly sympathetic to the protesters, leading some government officials to label him an "activist." But on the day he died Will was working as a journalist, capturing the confrontation with a video camera.
The state coroner reported that Will's autopsy suggests he was shot twice from distances of less than six feet, with the second wound coming as much as 15 minutes after the first. Widely published photographs taken of the wounded journalist show him aided by dissidents, who rushed him to the hospital.
Video of fatal clash
Will's final video of the clash in which he died is available on youtube.com. The video can be located by entering Will's name into the site's search engine.
"As is clear from the footage Brad shot of his own death, any claims about someone shooting him at point-blank range should be immediately recognized as close to impossible," said Houstonian Nick Cooper, a friend of Will's who also files reports to Indymedia. "Anyone shooting him from close up would almost certainly be in the frame, and there is no one in front of him."
"When Brad is shot, those around him have picked him up to carry him to safety," Cooper said. "There is no evidence of the people around him scuffling with a shooter who would theoretically be right there."
The Mexico federal attorney general's office has requested evidence from state officials on the shooting.
Except for special circumstances, including relations to drug trafficking, murder is a state crime in Mexico.
dqalthaus@yahoo.com |
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