Monday, January 26, 2009
The Dilemma Mexican Journalists Face:
Self-censorship, Exile or Certain Death
Reporters Without Borders
January 22 – Reporters Without Borders and the
Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET), a Mexico City-based press freedom organization, are today releasing the results
of a joint fact-finding visit to the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, that was prompted by the 13 November murder of Armando Rodríguez Carreón of the El
Diario newspaper and a wave of violence that has forced journalists to flee into exile.
A news conference is to be held today in Mexico City
to present the report, the full text of which can be downloaded in Spanish.
“This report highlights the terrible dilemma
that the region’s journalists face – censor themselves, go into exile or risk an almost certain death that will
go completely unpunished,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It also points out that the deployment of many federal
personnel – civilian and military – to this major drug-trafficking stronghold has not made the city any safer
and has even exacerbated the violence.”
The press freedom organization added: “The authorities
have themselves become another source of fear for journalists. More than ever before, the federal government must keep a close
eye on its own personnel and overcome a reluctance to accept that press freedom is threatened by these shocking levels of
violence. We urge the authorities to act with resolve in ensuring protection and attention to victims, combating impunity
and enforcing discipline within their own ranks.”
A joint Reporters Without Borders-CEPET team met with
reporters, newspaper editors and radio station managers in Ciudad Juárez in early December. The visit coincided with a surge
in violence resulting from clashes between members of the rival Juárez and Sinaloa cartels and a federal government offensive
against both.
More than 4,000 people were killed as a result of the
government offensive and attacks by drug trafficking cartels in Mexico in 2008. More than a quarter of these deaths, 1,456,
occurred in Ciudad Juárez alone. “We are sick with fear, we know that if they want to kill you, they will kill you and
no one is there to protect you,” a journalist told the delegation. “We're scared because of what we know, not
because of what we publish,” another said.
Eight Ciudad Juárez journalists received threatening
mobile phone messages claiming to come from a drug cartel in January 2008. The messages all said, “Don’t get mixed
up with the wrong people,” or something very similar. Armando Rodríguez Carreón was one of the journalists. When he
reported the threat to the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office, he was told he should leave town as there was no way
of guaranteeing his safety.
Rodríguez finally went back to work after a two-month
break, while other journalists preferred to go into self-exile. He was gunned down on 13 November as he was taking his children
to school. There were more telephone threats against journalists during his funeral the next day. As a result, the number
of journalists leaving the region or the country increased.
The investigation into Rodríguez’s murder was
quickly assigned to the office of the special federal prosecutor for crimes of violence against the press, which was established
on 15 February 2006. The handling of the case was unfortunately a classic example of how to reinforce impunity. Without any
evidence to support their claim, certain local or federal officials put out the word that Rodríguez was murdered because of
his links with a drug baron.
Such events undermined the already shaky confidence
of the public and news media in the authorities, including the federal ones, who are all suspected of being infiltrated by
organized crime. Nine federal justice ministry officials were fired in 2008 for this reason, and some of them were prosecuted.
As the report points out, the dispatch of 2,500 soldiers
and federal officials to Ciudad Juárez has done nothing to check this unprecedented wave of violence. Direct threats from
military personnel led Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, El Diario’s regional correspondent, to seek refuge on the other
side of the US border in El Paso, Texas, where he is being held by the US department of immigration.
In view of a situation that is seriously compromising
press freedom and, more broadly, the freedoms recognized by the Mexican Constitution, Reporters Without Borders and CEPET
urge the local and federal authorities to:
· Respect the mandate they have received from society and to take concrete steps
to guarantee the public’s safety and freedom of expression.
· Respect the human rights and freedom of expression
of journalists, news media and society as a whole in the course of their actions against organized crime. Those responsible
for human rights violations must be punished.
· Either release the evidence supporting the allegations
of links between Armando Rodríguez Carreón and drug traffickers or, in the absence of any such evidence, apologize to his
family.
Reporters Without Borders and CEPET also appeal to
the Mexican and US media to show solidarity for the journalists who have been the victims of threats or violence and to support
freedom of expression in their actions.
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Reporters Without Borders – Americas, January 22, 2009
