DAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITER November 15, 2004
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MEXICO: KILLINGS OF JOURNALISTS
While Colombia holds the dubious distinction of being the most violent country in Latin America – thanks to its seemingly endless civil war – arguably the most hazardous place in the region in which to be a journalist is actually two thousand miles away in Northern Mexico.
Roberto Javier Mora García, the editorial director of the newspaper
El Mañana and the editor of the weekly
North Mexico Business, was stabbed 26 times near his home in the
Mexico/US border town of Nuevo Laredo in the early hours of
March 19, 2004. Mora published numerous articles about the drug-trafficking Gulf Cartel, claiming that the police and public officials were involved with the group. He also uncovered the dealings of zeta groups – former policemen who extort money from businessmen on behalf of drug traffickers. Mario Medina, who was arrested in connection with the killing, was subsequently stabbed to death by his cell mate in May. There is little to suggest that Medina was involved in the crime. The Mexican PEN Centre is one of six organisations that have formed a commission to monitor the investigation into Mora’s murder.
Francisco Ortiz Franco, who was the deputy editor of the
weekly newspaper Zeta, was gunned down in front of his children in the city of Tijuana on 22 June 2004. Zeta has a reputation for its candid reporting on drug trafficking gangs in Tijuana. Zeta’s co-founder, Héctor Félix Miranda, was shot dead in April 1988. In 1997, the newspaper’s publisher, Jesús Blancornelas, survived an attempt on his life in which both his bodyguard and driver were killed. One of the two men convicted for the murder of Félix Miranda was a bodyguard employed by businessman Jorge Hank Rhon. In the weeks up to his death, Ortiz Franco had also been working to bring to justice those believed responsible for ordering the killing of Félix Miranda.
In 2004, no fewer than three print journalists from the area – Roberto Mora, Francisco J. Ortiz Franco and Francisco Arratia Saldierna – have been murdered in connection with their investigative work. Newspaper columnist Francisco Arratia Saldierna was killed on 31 August 2004 in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on the border with the United States. Arratia (55) was found wrapped in a sheet outside the offices of the Red Cross. He had been severely beaten and his body showed signs of torture after apparently being kidnapped earlier by unidentified individuals. The journalist was taken to hospital but died of his injuries. Portavoz – the column Arratia Saldierna wrote for four different newspapers in Tamaulipas – was known for its outspoken stance on corruption, organised crime and drug trafficking in Matamoros.
The killings of the three journalists are at the heart of an International PEN resolution on Mexico approved at the September 2004 PEN Congress (the full resolution can be viewed at www.internationalpen.org.uk). Thus far, progress has been made only with regards to the murder of Ortiz Franco – on 24 June 2004, police arrested seven suspects. To date, though, no one has been sent to trial in connection with any of the murders.
For more information on Francisco Ortiz Franco published by the
Committee to Protect Journalists click Español: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/tijuana_sp/tijuana_sp.html English: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/tijuana/tijuana.html
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