Thread: Publisher Lands in Trouble in Baja

Publisher Lands in Trouble in Baja

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-d ... v-business

Nancy Conroy's coverage of a real estate dispute has made her the target of lawsuits and criminal prosecution.
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2006

ENSENADA, Mexico — Publisher Nancy Conroy has created a niche for her twice-monthly newspaper by printing the kind of real estate information you won't find in glossy brochures.

Readers of the English-language Gringo Gazette have learned about time-share hucksters, stolen deposits, flimsy contracts and other pitfalls that have tripped up Americans racing to grab a piece of Mexico's fast-growing Baja peninsula.

It's a focus that has won her friends among would-be property buyers. It has also made her enemies among developers and cost her some advertisers. The outspoken USC Law School graduate may soon pay a higher price: her freedom.

Conroy, 41, faces as much as two years in prison stemming from criminal defamation and calumny charges related to articles she wrote about a Rosarito condominium development. Conroy reported that the parcel where the project was being constructed along the rugged northern Baja coastline was the subject of a long-running title dispute that could pose a risk to buyers.

The developers also filed civil lawsuits against Conroy and her newspaper seeking about $20 million in lost sales and damages after some purchasers allegedly backed out of their contracts after reading of the land-ownership battle in the Gringo Gazette starting in November 2004.

Court records and a spokesman for the Mexican developers, whose original partners included former Rosarito Mayor Hugo Eduardo Torres Chabert, paint Conroy as a muckraker who dragged the name of one of the city's leading families through the mud in a campaign to discredit them, benefit their business rivals and generate headlines for her publication.

Julio Mendivil, spokesman for the development group, acknowledged the existence of the competing title claim. But he said the partners believed that it had no merit and that their reputations suffered as a result of Conroy's articles.

"The company is going to put her in jail and run her out of the country," said Mendivil, administrator of Desarrolladora de las Californias, in a tape-recorded interview in his downtown Rosarito office. " … We're going after her with everything we've got, whatever it costs."

Conroy, who said she was notified last week that she would have to stand trial in the criminal proceeding, said the developers were retaliating against her for disclosing facts that they didn't want buyers to know and that they aren't required to reveal to clients under Mexican law. Conroy said she stood by her reporting and expressed confidence that she would be vindicated in court.

Still, Conroy said her experience might make other scribes in Mexico wary about taking on tough topics and powerful people. In addition to racking up thousands of dollars in legal fees, Conroy said, she has become the target of an investigation into her immigration status that Mexican officials launched at the behest of the developers, a fact that Mendivil confirmed. She said she received an anonymous e-mail death threat and has had her newspapers stolen from racks.

"It's harassment," she said. "They are trying to silence the press."

Conroy's case highlights the continuing evolution of press freedom in Mexico. Openness has improved dramatically with the crumbling of the old ruling party, particularly among print and radio outlets. Nevertheless, crimes against journalists routinely go unpunished. And weak media protection laws make the press here more vulnerable to litigation — and even criminal prosecution — than in other democratic countries.

The legal actions also underscore the big bucks riding on real estate development in the Baja peninsula, which is depending on American buyers to keep the gravy train rolling.

"The real estate community hates her because they don't want her to rain on their parade," said Ensenada real estate agent Kerry Kay Sims. "She has been ostracized by lots of people."

Sims said she found the Gringo Gazette's coverage a little too focused on "gloom and doom," without enough mention of reputable developers and the thousands of satisfied Americans who have bought real estate in Mexico. Still, she described Conroy as a dogged researcher who was performing a valuable public service in an industry sorely lacking in transparency and consumer protection.

"Property developers are scoundrels everywhere, not just here, and you have to keep an eye on them," Sims said. "I have seen the look of sheer terror on developers' faces when they think [Conroy] may be writing an article about them. The fact that she is out there tends to make people behave a little better."

Conroy's legal troubles stem from her writings about a tangled chain of ownership on an oceanfront parcel in the northern Baja city of Rosarito, where the developer, Desarrolladora de las Californias, is building a $30-million, twin-tower condominium project named La Jolla del Mar.

The investor group originally comprised Torres and his cousins, Eduardo Lorenzo Chabert Garcia and Marcela Brunet Chabert, who bought out his 25% stake in late 2005.

Torres, a well-known Rosarito businessman whose family owns two newspapers, the English-language Baja Times and the Spanish-language Ecos de Rosarito, said through a spokesman that, as minority shareholder, he opposed the litigation against Conroy and the Gringo Gazette.

"In all my experience, you do not sue newspapers," Torres said.

Desarrolladora de las Californias has records showing that it is the legal owner of the site. But Tomas Corona, a member of another prominent Rosarito family, likewise lays claim to the parcel. The matter has been wending its way through Mexican courts for years.

Title battles are common in Mexico and are one of the riskiest aspects for Americans purchasing real estate south of the border, where title insurance is not widely available. The U.S. State Department carries a lengthy warning about this and other potential stumbling blocks on its website at travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_970.html.

Conroy has headed the northern edition of the Gringo Gazette since 2002, after a contentious split with her former business partner, Carrie Duncan, who publishes a separate English-language newspaper with the same name in the southern Baja city of Cabo San Lucas.

In an interview, Duncan accused Conroy of illegally wresting control of the northern Baja edition by diverting partnership assets into a new entity controlled by Conroy. Duncan said she was pursuing legal action to get the paper back.

Conroy contends that she did nothing wrong and that she is the rightful owner of the northern edition, which she operates out of a cramped office over a beauty parlor in an Ensenada strip mall. She said 15,000 free copies of the paper are distributed every two weeks in Ensenada and Rosarito.

One thing the former partners can agree on is that real estate is a hot topic among Gringo Gazette readers all along the Baja peninsula.

Conroy, a former attorney, said a steady stream of letters and e-mail from readers with real estate woes had motivated her to learn as much as she could about the purchasing process for foreigners in Mexico and to pursue stories she thought would enlighten them.

So instead of the recipe of the week or where to go for the perfect margarita, the Gringo Gazette's pages are anchored with stories such as that of the broker who skipped town with millions of dollars' worth of escrow money and the con artist who scammed buyers with a fake development project.

Conroy acknowledges that the coverage has cost her advertising dollars. Real estate ads in her publication are scarce. A group of local developers last year cited her brand of "yellow journalism" as one of the biggest threats to Baja's soaring real estate market, according to an article published in Ecos de Rosarito.

"I'm proud of that," said Conroy, who, far from keeping a low profile, bombs around town in a dented Chevy van plastered with the Gringo Gazette logo.

She also has won the appreciation of some readers. Las Vegas businessman Rich Sorrano credits the Gringo Gazette for helping him get his $10,000 deposit refunded this year by a Rosarito developer who returned the money after Conroy wrote about his difficulties.

Sorrano said he had intended to buy a couple of $335,000 condos as an investment but balked at what he saw as key deficiencies in the contract. He said he was saddened but not surprised to hear that Conroy was facing possible prison time for challenging a powerful local interest.

"Nancy is a candle in a sea of darkness," Sorrano said. "And in my opinion, she is about to be blown out."

I wonder if this might just be an advantage to Us. We may be able to use her paper as an outlet to those that cant get on the internet down their and might like to see and hear Our points of view. She does need the advertising dollars.

For her own safety she should get out of mexico.

She absolutely should get out of Mexico. She trusts their courts??????

Originally Posted by curiouspat

She absolutely should get out of Mexico. She trusts their courts??????

let's just hope jorge bush's boyfriend vicente doesn't get her extradited. if this on top of illegal aliens, drugs, and illegal alien gangs coming over the border doesn't strain relations with mexico then what will?

http://www.seniorscopie.com/actu/articl ... 19&rub=swi

Mexico
Security and low prices lure North American retirees to Mexico

Mis en ligne le 07/06/2006

Secure property ownership and low housing prices are convincing arguments. Many retirees chose to leave Canada or the United States and move south of the border. With its temperate climate and idyllic landscapes, Guadalajara is becoming one of the new retiree hotspots. Canadians and US Americans spend part or all of the year in their adopted home. Relocation in retirement is proving to be very popular and other senior destinations such as Morelia or Oaxaca are on the rise.

Retirees are moving south of the border. Secure ownership and low housing prices are luring pensioners to hotspots such as Guadalajara or San Miguel de Allende. New Mexican laws have made property acquisitions more secure. Elderly citizens are attracted by the climate of'eternal spring'with temperatures ranging between 70 and 80º F throughout the year. Though the city is located on a high plateau, humidity, insects and low temperatures are not an issue. The city of Guadalajara also boasts a historical centre and an ancient cathedral and adjoining squares.

Most pensioners who live in the Guadalajara region bought homes 30 years ago and live there other all year round or part of the year. Though some pensioners prefer to rent, the price of housing remains low in comparison to prices in the US. 6,000 of them live around the lake surrounded by gentle rolling mountains. 60% of the Expat inhabitants are Canadian, 40% American. Pensioners are also moving to surrounding areas such as San Miguel de Allende, Morelia, Oaxaca and Aguascalientes.

(Contra Costa Times, 04/20/06 : "Mexico a great getaway for retirees")