| | |  Editorials | Issues | January 2009 
Journalism has Become a Deadly Pursuit in Mexico
 Dave Gibson - American Chronicle
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According to Mexico´s National Human Rights Commission, since 2000, 45 journalists have been murdered in Mexico. Of course, just as have some 5,600 other Mexicans have been killed in 2008 alone, these reporters have fallen victim to that country´s drug cartels.
A few days ago, the international nonprofit group known as the Committee to Protect Journalists released the following statement: "Drug traffickers are clearly using the media to spread a message of fear and terror and to make clear to everyone that there will be consequences to reporting on their activities. The government cannot allow criminals to intimidate the media into silence."
CPJ rates Mexico in the top 10 of unsolved murders of journalists. Mexico is tied with Afghanistan for the number of cases of murdered reporters which have yet to be solved. Mexico is actually ahead of Somalia in that deadly statistic.
On November 13, 2008, newspaper reporter Armando Rodriguez was murdered outside of his home, as he was leaving to drive his eight year old daughter to school.
Rodriguez was a crime reporter for El Diario, the largest newspaper in Ciudad Juarez. That city which is just across the border from El Paso, TX, saw more than 1,500 murders in 2008.
Editor of El Diario, Pedro Torres said that a few months earlier, Rodriguez had received a threatening message on his cell phone to "tone it down." The day before his murder, Rodriguez reported on the murder of two local police officers.
One night in January 2007, veteran crime reporter Rodolfo Rincon, left his office at the Tabasco Hoy newspaper, and was never seen again. That same day, his two-page report on drug activities in the state of Tabasco had appeared in the paper.
Rincon, 54, is believed to have been kidnapped and killed, by the drug traffickers on whom he regularly reported.
In April 5, 2005, crime reporter Guadalupe Garcia Escamilla, 39, was approached by a man as she parked her car outside her radio station in Nuevo Laredo. The man shot Escamilla 14 times. She died in the hospital, a week and a half later. She was the host of the show known as "Punto Rojo."
The shooting took place only a half an hour after the station ran a report by Escamilla detailing the murder of a Nuevo Laredo defense attorney.
Only three days after the attack on Escamilla, the owner of the very popular newspaper La Opinion in the state of Veracruz was killed near his home. Raúl Gibb Guerrero, 53, was shot 15 times by four assailants.
La Opinion is known for their comprehensive coverage of the drug cartels. Guerrero had been receiving death threats for some time.
Besides the many murders, a great number of reporters in Mexico have been captured and tortured by drug gangs. They are then released with the promise of death if they continue to report on the powerful cartels.
On October 25, 2008, Pedro Matías was kidnapped as he left the offices of the daily paper Noticias, located in Oaxaca. The reporter was beaten and tortured for 12 hours. His captors threatened to rape and behead him. They also made threats against Matías´ family, telling him that they had been "located."
In addition to kidnapping and killing individual reporters, the drug gangs have attacked several newspaper offices, indiscriminately firing automatic weapons and even tossing grenades onto crowded floors.
On January 6, 2009, masked gunmen in pickup trucks fired high-powered rifles and threw a grenade at the Grupo Televisa studios in Monterey, in the state of Nuevo Leon.
The attack came during a live broadcast. Viewers then saw the anchors pleading for help from the police as the attack occurred.
The attackers left a message written on a car parked outside the news station. The message read: "Stop reporting on us. Also report on narco officials."
On November 17, 2008, two young men tossed several grenades into the main entrance of the newspaper El Debate. The paper is located in the very violent state of Sinaloa, and has been aggressively covering the violence wrought by the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
In February 2006 gunmen burst into the offices of the newspaper El Mañana, in Nuevo Laredo, firing dozens of rounds and tossing grenades.
Reporter Jaime Orozco was shot five times, though he survived the attack, he was left paralyzed. El Mañana´s editor was murdered in 2004.
In many cases, the incredible violence directed at journalists has had the effect of silencing the press. It is becoming common practice for Mexican newspapers to omit the reporters´ names on stories about the cartels. Some newspapers have chosen to stop reporting on the drug war, and others have simply closed altogether.
In June 2007, a severed head was left outside of the offices of the newspaper El Correo de Tabasco. The paper had recently run several stories about the drug cartels. The head had a note attached to it which threatened the life of the newspaper´s director, Juan Padilla. A few days later, Padilla left the country.
El Correo no longer covers the drug cartels.
In May 2007, the newspaper Cambio in the state of Sonora, actually shut down after being suffering two separate grenade attacks.
Reporter Ricardo Rovelo of the weekly Processo Magazine, recently said: "Everyday it´s more difficult to practice journalism in Mexico, especially from the middle of a war between the government and narcos. We are in a no man´s land."
It is more than disturbing that the Mexican drug cartels are waging a war against journalists south of the border. However, with a largely unprotected border, it is only a matter of time before American journalists begin falling victim to the war, already being waged against our law enforcement officials and citizens throughout this country.
As our neighbors to the South are now learning…What good is democracy, if those you elect are unable or unwilling to protect their citizens in the most basic way?
The Mexican drug cartels now pose a threat to every aspect of life in both of our countries. |
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