Thread: Mexican Press Freedom Under Attack from Numerous Quarters

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29736


MEXICO:
Press Freedom Under Attack from Numerous Quarters
Adrián Reyes

MEXICO CITY, Aug 1 (IPS) - The disappearance of a reporter and fear of reprisals from drug trafficking rings prompted El Imparcial, a newspaper in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, to cease any further investigations into the illegal drug trade and related police corruption.

Meanwhile, in the southern state of Oaxaca, the daily newspaper Noticias continues to be published despite the fact that it has officially been �on strike� since Jun. 15.

The paper's journalists and other staff do not support the strike, and maintain that it was orchestrated by local authorities in an attempt to shut the paper down and silence criticism of the local government.

The strike was called by the Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CROC), a trade union federation with ties to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governs the state of Oaxaca.

For an entire month, 31 workers were barricaded inside the Noticias offices, which were surrounded by CROC-affiliated demonstrators, and continued to bring out the paper regardless.

In mid-July, a group of masked men broke into the offices and smashed up equipment - an attack to which the local police failed to respond.

�We are alarmed by the systematic attacks on journalists in Mexico, especially since in 80 percent of the cases, those responsible are the municipal or state authorities,� Eréndira Cruz, director of the non-governmental National Centre for Social Communication (CENCOS), told IPS.

�Freedom of expression can be used as a barometer to measure the quality of democracy,� she added.

The cases of Noticias in Oaxaca and El Imparcial in Sonora - where journalist Alfredo Jiménez has been missing since Apr. 2 - back up the contention that journalists face even greater danger in parts of the country outside the major urban centres, like the capital, she noted.

Cruz stressed that attacks on journalists and on the freedom of expression need to be addressed by a special prosecutor's office with federal jurisdiction. Because they are currently dealt with by local authorities, these incidents are investigated as common crimes, which covers up the true dimension of threats to freedom of the press.

When President Vicente Fox of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) took office, breaking over 70 years of uninterrupted rule by the PRI, he met with human rights organisations and journalists associations, and pledged to set up just such a prosecutor's office. But as his 2000-2006 term now draws to an end, no action has been taken in this direction, commented Cruz.

Nevertheless, the CENCOS director recognised that the Fox administration has shown greater respect for press freedom than previous governments led by the PRI, which was widely accused of �buying� positive coverage from media outlets.

On Jul. 15, the Mexican Attorney General's Office set up a telephone hotline specifically to receive calls from journalists who feel or have been threatened. As well as a means of documenting reports of intimidation, the hotline also offers advice on what to do when faced with pressure or threats.

Cencos and the Mexican States Publishers Association (AEE), made up of representatives of some 200 media outlets around the country, concur that the lion's share of the violence aimed at journalists and media entities can be attributed to municipal or state authorities, the police and drug traffickers.

A report from international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders reveals that around the world during 2004, 53 journalists and 15 media assistants were killed, another 907 were imprisoned, at least 1,146 were the victims of attacks or threats, and 622 press outlets were subjected to censorship.

According to CENCOS, Mexico ranks first in Latin America with regard to reports of attacks against journalists. So far this year three cases have been reported: two murders and one forced disappearance. Next on the list is Colombia, with two cases, said Cruz.

The AEE has vocally criticised the Fox administration, demanding that it act decisively to punish attacks on the press, such as the murder in April of Raúl Gibb, editor of the daily newspaper La Opinión in Poza Rica, Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

For his part, BenjamÃÂ*n Fernández, president of the Mexican Association of Publishers, which groups together newspapers from throughout the country, said reporters feel that they are alone, that no one listens to them or opens their doors to them. â€?No one cares about us,â€? he stated.

�It seems like 25 journalists will have to be killed in order to get the president to meet with us or to ensure that justice is done,� Fernández remarked.

Faced with criticisms like these, the disappearance four months ago of El Imparcial reporter Jiménez and the ongoing conflict at the Noticias offices in Oaxaca, President Fox met with media representatives on Jul. 24.

He condemned the attacks on journalists and pledged that he would not allow them to go unpunished.

The Fox administration has been waging a pitched battle against Mexico's various major drug cartels, which in turn are caught up in an escalating war to control the main transportation routes into the United States, the number one destination for drugs.

This double conflict has claimed over 600 lives in various parts of the country, although primarily along the northern border with the United States.

The Attorney General's Office believes it likely that drug traffickers are responsible for the disappearance of Jiménez, who was known for his investigative reports on the drug trade and had ongoing contact with informants inside the municipal police department in Hermosillo, Sonora.

Jiménez vanished on Apr. 2. The last that was heard of him was a message he sent to a co-worker at the paper, saying he was on his way to a meeting with an informant.

His father, Alfredo Jiménez Sr., told IPS he still believes that �Our Lady of Guadalupe (the patron saint of Mexico) will help me find me son.�

Jiménez's disappearance and the endless string of murders along the U.S. border attributed to drug traffickers led the management of El Imparcial to decide that the paper would no longer publish any articles related to drug trafficking or police corruption.

The daily's directors say that while their publication is affected by this determination, the country loses out as well, because there are no authorities capable of guaranteeing the safety of either journalists or the general public.

Journalist and political analyst Miguel Angel Granados wrote that El Imparcial �has adopted a decision motivated unabashedly by fear. If they opted to keep silent, no one can really expect anything else of them.�

Meanwhile, in Oaxaca, the workers at Noticias continue to put out the newspaper despite the fact that the offices are surrounded by federal police agents and demonstrators led up by David Aguilar, the head of the CROC labour federation and a PRI lawmaker.

Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz of the PRI denies that the �strike� was orchestrated to silence the newspaper's criticism of the local authorities and argues that it is purely and solely a labour dispute.

At the same time, however, Aguilar has claimed that the newspaper's directors are trying to use the conflict for political purposes, but that they had quite a different attitude in the past when they accepted gifts, cars and economic incentives from the state government.

The Mexican National Human Rights Commission has declared that reprisals from drug traffickers and conflicts with the authorities force many journalists to walk a fine line, while the intimidation and attacks they suffer often go unpunished and threaten freedom of speech.

The Commission reported that it had received 88 complaints of abuse or aggression against journalists during the administration of Carlos Salinas (1988-1994), 157 under the Ernesto Zedillo government (1994-2000), and 169 so far under Fox. (END/2005)


S

This is EXTREMELY SERIOUS.
It seems like 25 journalists will have to be killed in order to get the president to meet with us or to ensure that justice is done,� Fernández remarked.

This sounds like another "Leader" I know. What will it take for our "Leader" to wisen up and get the troops on the border?

Now that the press has been shut up, what's next for Mexico? One can only imagine. If I were a member of the American Press, I'd be doing a lot of "exercising" of my "freedom of speech" just to keep it in good shape.