Earlier this week Article 19 reported that 2011 was one of the most violent years for the media since the drug war was launched in 2006. The group says that there were 172 reported attacks against journalists or media organizations, with 29 of those in the state of Veracruz, one of the most deadly areas in all of Mexico (Veracruz reporter paid with her life: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.mx/2011/11/veracruz-press-furious-over-prosecutors.html.)
The director of the advocacy group says that press-focused crimes leaped sharply last year, and that in virtually every case the obvious motive was to inhibit the free flow of public information. According to some international organizations Mexico remains the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. At least 75 have been killed or disappeared under mysterious circumstances since 2000, and 11 died in 2011. Most have been killed at the hands of presumed narcotics traffickers, drug cartels or organized crime groups. One reporter was murdered in January (Mexican journalist deaths continue to rise: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/mexican-journalist-deaths-continue-to.html).
Among the most brutal of last year's violent attacks against journalists was the September kidnapping and execution of María Elizabeth Macías, a 39 year old editor of Primera Hora in northern Nuevo Laredo state. She was found decapitated and mutilated near a public monument. Her head was neatly placed beside her body, a narcomensaje (executioner’s warning) at her side. Macías was killed for reporting on organized crime activities in the area (Amnesty International demands action in case of Mexico's latest murdered journalist: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/amnesty-international-demands-action-in.html).
By far the most disturbing component of this story, which was reported by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal on Mar. 20 and Mar. 21, is Article 19's claim that 78% of these anti-press attacks were carried out with the direct complicity or knowledge of government officials or "politicians" at some level -- local, state or federal. That number shocked me, and left me hungry for more details. El Universal hasn't provided them, at least that I've seen. Article 19 has published a report on the situation, entitled Silencio Forzado: El Estado, Cómplice de la Violencia Contra La Persona (Forced Silence, The State - an Accomplice to Violence Against Persons), which I hope to track down and review.
In November the offices of a Veracruz newspaper were firebombed in a yet unsolved case. The premises and printing presses were destroyed (Veracruz newspaper attacked by arsonists: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/veracruz-newspaper-fire-bombed.html). Earlier this week there was a car bombing outside of the newspaper El Expreso in Ciudad Victoria, in Tamaulipas state. No one was injured in that case.
A Canadian clinical psychologist, Anthony Feinstein, told the Milenio network this week that Mexican journalists must work under pressures and tension which their counterparts in other countries cannot imagine. Feinstein said that reporters' families are frequently subjected to intimidation, which subjects the journalists to even greater stress. In the Veracruz case linked above, a local news director, his wife and young son were executed in their home in June 2011. Sicarios (hit men) arrived early one morning, walked right in and shot them before they could get out of bed. The murders remain unsolved.
In January the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Earl Anthony Wayne, announced that the U.S. would donate $5 million over the next four years to organizations and programs which focus on providing greater protection for Mexican journalists, especially those covering federal government affairs. The aid is pursuant to an agreement with Freedom House, a Washington, D.C. research institute and think tank which promotes democracy and human rights issues around the world. Ambassador Wayne, who wrote for the Christian Science Monitor for two years in the 1980's, told reporters during the announcement, "I truly value the role of journalists in keeping the citizenry well informed on matters of vital interest."
Last week Mexico's Senate approved a proposed constitutional amendment which would federalize most crimes against journalists and media sources. Contrary to what some have reported, it's not yet law. Since it's an amendment to the constitution, it now passes to the legislatures of Mexico's 32 separate states, 16 of which also must endorse it. But it's likely to become law within the next year. The U.S. has no similar protection for journalists, even though American courts have recognized in hundreds of cases that the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of the press, implicitly protects the news gathering process as well. Without the latter a free press would be meaningless. Mexico poised to increase protection for journalists: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/03/mexico-poised-to-increase-protection.html.
Lucha contra el narco daña salud de los periodistas: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/839263.html.
Mexico is a death zone for journalists: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/united-nations-says-mexico-is-death.html.
Organized crime, hostile governments present challenges to Latin free press: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/organized-crime-hostile-governments.html.
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