Making the wrong commentary about the drug war in Mexico could create problems for public figures. Take the case of Kate del Castillo, a Mexican actor who incurred the wrath of many in the country after she tweeted that she preferred drug gang leader Chapo Guzman to the government.
Her mistake was to post a long statement on social media site Twextra. “Today, I believe more in El Chapo Guzman than in the governments that hide truths from me,” she wrote, adding later:
“Mr Chapo, wouldn’t it be great if you started trafficking with positive things? With cures for diseases, with food for street children, with alcohol (drinks) for old people in retirement homes, where they are not allowed to spend their final days doing whatever they like. You can traffic with corrupt politicians and not with women and children who end up as slaves?”
She ended the statement urging Guzman, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug bosses, to become “The Hero of Heroes,” a play on a Mexican corrido song describing a top drug baron as the “Jefe de Jefes” or Boss of Bosses.
El Chapo, which translates to “Shorty”, is one of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers. He was named the most influential drug trafficker in the world by the US Treasury Department, and has been ranked as one of the richest Mexicans by Forbes for the last three consecutive years.
The only entertainers who flocked to support Kate were Ranchera singer Chavela Vargas and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, plus her ex-husband Demian Bichir.
Most Mexican entertainers stay away from appearing too chummy with known drug traffickers. Several singers of traditional grupero music have been killed in the last few years. None of the cases have been solved and the killings are said to be linked to songs the singers were paid to compose and make famous. Many of the songs describing and praising drug traffickers are called “narco-corridos”, a spin on the traditional corrido ballad music of Mexico.
Del Castillo, a top name in Mexico, recently moved into the US market, playing a role in Showtime’s Weeds. She also starred in the Spanish-language TV series La Reina del Sur, in which she played a female drug trafficker. The series is based on a real life drug trafficker, Sandra Avila, known as La Reina del Pacifico, who is in a Mexican jail today, fighting extradition to the United States for cocaine smuggling. Avila laundered money for the Chapo Guzman’s drug syndicate.
The website of the weekly newspaper Riodoce was taken down by a cyber attack. The DDoS attack follows the murders of two unidentified twitter users in Nuevo Laredo and the slaying of two workers of an Internet news site and blog. All occurred in the same state, Sinaloa, which is a hub for organised crime in Mexico.
According to Riodoce’s Director, Ismael Bojorquez Perea, the distributed denial-of-service attack attack began last Friday at noon. The publication is known for its incisive reporting, it recently received New York’s Columbia University Maria Moors Cabot Award for ‘heroically’ struggling to report the news in the face of increasing violence from organized crime.” The newspaper covers Sinalo’s drug trade but has always managed to avoid provoking the wrath of drug traffickers. The newspaper covers crime in a simple and stark manner, but ignores some details that could cause problems for the weekly. It has now been three days since the website riodoce.com.mx disappeared from the web.
Riodoce found out about the attack when their US-based internet host Dreamhost, warned them about a “big attack” that also affected some of their other clients. The internet hosting company is now refusing to host Riodoce.
Sinaloa, where Riodoce was founded in 2003, is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, but has recently been hit with a wave of unprecedented violence due to battles between different organised crime groups. A major massacre occurred in this northwestern state last week. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the most established organised crime groups in Mexico. Its leader, Joaquin Chapo Guzman Loera, is among the richest men in Mexico.
To mark the inaugural International Day to End Impunity on 23 November, join Index in demanding justice for journalists’ murdered in the line of duty
Freedom of Expression Organisations Call for Justice on International Day to End Impunity
London, November 23, 2011
Today Index on Censorship, Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists and English PEN join dozens of freedom of expression organisations around the world to mark the inaugural International Day to End Impunity.
In the past 10 years, more than 500 journalists have been killed. In nine out of 10 cases, the murderers have gone free. Many others targeted for exercising their right to freedom of expression — artists, writers, musicians, activists — join their ranks.
On this day two years ago the single deadliest event for the media took place when 30 journalists and two support workers were brutally killed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, The Philippines. The journalists were part of a convoy accompanying supporters of a local politician filing candidacy papers for provincial governor. In total the “Maguindanao Massacre” as it has come to be known, claimed 58 victims. Not one of more than a hundred individuals suspected of involvement in the atrocity has been convicted yet.
We join those in the Philippines not only in honouring their slain colleagues, friends and family members, but demanding justice for them and hundreds more in Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Colombia, Iraq and Somalia and other countries where killings of journalists and free expression activists have repeatedly gone unpunished. Above all we demand an end to the cycle violence and impunity.
This year alone at least 17 journalists were murdered for their work. These include Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, whose body was found May 31 showing signs of torture. They include Mexican journalist and social media activist Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro Macías, whose killers left a computer keyboard and a note with the journalist’s body saying she had been killed for writing on social media websites. These heinous acts not only silence the messenger, but are intended to intimidate all others from bringing news and sharing critical voices with the public.
We call on governments around the world to investigate and prosecute these crimes and bring an end to impunity.
Article 19 English PEN
Committee to Protect Journalists Index on Censorship
23 November marks the anniversary of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre, in which 34 journalists were murdered in an election-related killing in the Philippines, making it the single deadliest incident for journalists in recent history.
At least one Mexican Twitter user was detained by local police after a series of sarcastic tweets made after a helicopter crash that killed Mexico’s interior minister Francisco Blake Mora, as well as seven other Mexican officials. A citizen identified as Mareo Flores or @MareoFlores was detained by local police based on tweets he made on 11 and 12 November. One of his tweets sent after the crash, said in English “Secretario de Gobernación singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly…”. According to his father, Mareo was arrested by men who arrived in five unmarked blackcars on 13 November, and released a few hours later after prosecutors interviewed him. Federico Areola of SDP Noticias criticised officials for the arrest, because the official investigation indicates that the crash was an accident, rather than an assassination. Another Twitter user, @Morfe0, also gained fame on 11 November, after it was revealed he had predicted the helicopter crash in a message he sent out on 10 November, joking that Mexicans should avoid Paseo de la Reforma, a famous avenue in Mexico City because ministers would fall from the sky on the account of the ominous 11/11/11 date. He was also referencing the 2008 death of another interior minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño, who died after the Lear jet in which he was traveling crash near Reforma Avenue.
