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 Editorials | December 2006 
Growing Peril for Mexican Journalists Who Dig Too Deep
 Monica Campbell - SF Chronicle
| | Reporting on corruption, drugs, gangs can be fatal. (Robin Good) |
It was another grisly death.
On Nov. 21, Roberto Marcos Garcia, a 50-year-old crime reporter in the eastern state of Veracruz, was shot dead after being knocked off his motorcycle by a Chrysler PT Cruiser in full view of lunchtime diners at a roadside seafood restaurant on the outskirts of Veracruz city.
"He had received threats, mostly anonymous calls," said Luis Tiburcio, editor of Testimonio, the weekly magazine where Garcia worked for 14 years covering criminal gangs and drug traffickers. "I don't know which article triggered this degree of anger. But what's clear is that these groups of thugs, armed groups, delinquents, whatever you want to call them, are getting stronger and stronger."
Garcia is one of eight journalists murdered since January - a toll that gives Mexico the dubious distinction of being the deadliest country in Latin America for journalists. Three others have disappeared this year and are presumed dead. Since 2004, 13 journalists have been killed, presumably as revenge for critical stories on drug traffickers, corrupt officials and criminal gangs.
"We are not able to establish that all of these crimes are related to journalists' work," said Carlos Lauria, the Americas program director for the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "But we can't deny a common theme that these attacks were committed against reporters working on stories about corruption and especially drug trafficking."
The most recent victim, Adolfo Sanchez Guzman, a correspondent for the TV station Televisa Veracruz, was found shot to death Nov. 30 along with a friend he had given a ride. Police say the friend was the main target of the attack.
Other victims include Jose Manuel Nava, 53, a former editor of the Mexico City-based newspaper Excelsior, who was found stabbed to death on Nov. 16, shortly after the release of his book "El Asalto Final," or "The Final Round." It said his newspaper's recent change in ownership involved financial irregularities and government corruption.
On Nov. 10, Misael Tamayo, editor of the newspaper El Despertar de la Costa, was found dead in a motel room in the resort town of Zihuatanejo. Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media group, suspects Tamayo's death is linked to his numerous articles about drug cartels operating on the coast.
"We're seeing a wave of violence against journalists like never before," said Leonarda Reyes, head of the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics, an Internet nonprofit group created in 2003 to push for press freedoms in Mexico.
Indeed, the most dangerous area for reporters is apparently the northern border with the United States, where a turf battle rages between drug cartels and where high-rolling mafia bosses are known to influence politicians and law enforcement officials.
In Nuevo Laredo, a city of 300,000 across the Texas border, Roberto Mora, the 44-year-old editorial director of El Mañana, the city's largest newspaper, was stabbed to death on March 19, 2004. In one of his editorials, Mora had written: "If we don't want these forces to govern our lives, we first must gather the courage to re-establish control by the citizens and not by the criminals."
The next year, crime reporter Guadalupe Garcia was shot dead in front of her radio station.
In October 2004, journalists staged protests in 16 Mexican cities against the attacks, and a similar protest is planned for Monday. Reyes said many journalists now refuse to cover drug cartels, opting for self-censorship.
In September, the U.S. media reported on a shootout between Mexican federal agents and drug traffickers that broke out in a posh neighborhood of Nuevo Laredo. The drawn-out clash apparently involved high-caliber weapons and grenades and resulted in several deaths. Not one newspaper in Nuevo Laredo covered the story.
"We've lost the freedom to report on anything considered risky or sensitive," said a journalist at a Nuevo Laredo newspaper who asked not to be identified. "We now focus on positive stories, about the majority of people here doing decent things."
To be sure, reporters are targeted in other Latin American countries, especially Colombia.
For 14 years, Jesus Abad, a 39-year-old photojournalist in Medellin, Colombia, has documented human rights abuses regarding his country's four-decade-old civil war, drug cartels and right-wing paramilitary groups. Last month, the Committee to Protect Journalists recognized Abad - kidnapped twice by leftist guerrillas - for his bravery.
"Believe me, I get scared doing my job, really scared," Abad said in a phone interview. "You're always worried about who's behind your back, whether it's the narcos, the guerrillas or other armed groups. But I'm determined to bring to the public what others try to sweep under the rug, whether it's the guerrillas training child soldiers or politicians colluding with the paramilitaries."
In Mexico, then-President Vicente Fox announced a special prosecutor's office on crimes against the press several days after a machine-gun and grenade attack on the offices of Nuevo Laredo's El Mañana in February. New President Felipe Calderon, who assumed the presidency Dec. 1, is expected to keep the agency going.
Mexican reporters are also counting on Congress to give the new office ample funds and allow it to investigate cases linked to drug trafficking, which is currently beyond its jurisdiction.
"We hope Congress ... gives this office some teeth," said a member of the special prosecutor's team who requested anonymity.
Jose Antonio Calcaneo, president of the Federation of Mexican Journalists' Associations, said the new agency is a positive step in recognizing press freedom. Yet Calcaneo, who has received several death threats over the years, quickly added that it will not lessen the dangers.
"We had more than 2,000 murders related to the drug war in Mexico this year," he said. "Our government is clearly overwhelmed by mafia groups. How can we expect to be protected if the situation in general is out of control?"
In the meantime, Tiburcio, the editor in Veracruz, said he is unwilling to resort to self-censorship.
"Everyone manages danger differently," he said. "I say publish, publish, publish. Don't let these criminal groups crush our independence." |
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