22 Jul 2011 | Americas, Mexico
Last May, the national television network Televisa transmitted a new series about the Mexican federal police. El Equipo is similar to US crime dramas like CSI which are popular in Mexico. It was shown nightly for three weeks, with each episode exalting the role of the Mexican Federal Police — on the show, unlike in real life, they always get the bad guy. The production did not cut corners. It was created by top Televisa producer Pedro Torres, and Federal Police officers appeared with extras. The series also used real police equipment and was shot in high security police compounds.
The homegrown series only gained a modest following. This may have been due to media criticism, which termed the show a public relations effort by National Security Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna. But the series hit the airwaves as a growing anti-violence civil movement, led by Mexican poet Javier Sicilia swelled in ranks, and the Mexican government war on drugs suffered yet more setbacks.
The show producers said the series had a tough beginning as it was broadcast at 10pm, when popular soap operas dominate the airwaves. Some analysts suggested the low audience audience figures were due to the viewer saturation with the violence. Nightly Mexican television news shows are dominated by bloody confrontations between Mexican police and drug traffickers. On the other hand it could be suggested that Mexican viewers, so accustomed to years of exposure to corrupt policemen who demand payoffs and are involved in organised crime, have a hard time imagining that El Equipo’s thoughtful officers are real.
There are efforts underway to create a national police force. This would create a more unified police front to coordinate more than 400 state and municipal police bodies which currently operate throughout Mexico. The government has engaged in an anti-corruption crusade that applies tough polygraph exams and reviews of individual cops. But the drug war has also pitted police forces with drug cartels that have better firepower and more money.
This month after it was revealed that the government paid close to 10m dollars to produce the 15 episode series —about 1.1m per chapter. It turns out the show was just a state public relations effort to show citizens that not all policemen are corrupt, and it flopped.
18 Jul 2011 | Americas, Mexico
The recent murder of Argentine singer Facundo Cabral in Guatemala is an incredible tragedy. Cabral, a pacifist and one of Latin America’s most celebrated protest singers, left his country in 1973 for almost a decade after a military junta took over and during a campaign of state-sponsored violence carried out major human rights violations. He died in a country that is known for violence, first during a civil war, and now under the overwhelming control of organised crime. Cabral was collateral damage.
It has long been suspected that Guatemala’s entertainment networks are controlled by thugs who combine the promotion of artists with other illegal activities. According to media reports, the guns that killed Cabral were directed at his promoter, Henry Fariñas, a Nicaraguan businessman who owns bars and cabarets across Central America. Reports suggests the shooting was drug-related. That the shooting was so brazen — it took place in broad daylight, on the route to the airport and the singers vehicle was hit by a hail of bullets from three carloads of men — is just one example of how far rule of law has Guatemala.
Many Central American nations, notably Mexico, are also experiencing similar outrageous acts of violence perpetrated by violent criminal organisations which demonstrate how far organised crime has penetrated society.
The murder of Cabral is a blow to free speech; he was a man who fought for freedom of expression during South America’s dark days of state violence, and died in a new era of gang violence.
1 Jul 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho told Mexican authorities on Thursday (30 June) that she has received anonymous death threats via phone and e-mail for revealing the names of sex traffickers. Authorities claim they have leads on the source of the threats. Cacho is one of many journalists who have been intimidated or even killed by crime rings for their reporting in Mexico.
23 Jun 2011 | Americas, Mexico
The back to back murders of two prominent crime journalists have cast a dark shadow over Mexican press freedom.
Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, 55, a former deputy director and well established crime columnist for the newspaper Notiver of Veracuz was the second journalist killed in Mexico in a week.
Pablo Ruelas Barraza, a freelance crime reporter, received death threats before he was killed on 13 June in the northeastern state of Sonora.
It is not clear who killed Velasco, but it is rumoured that he is the latest victim of drug gangs, supporting the view that cartels are silencing Mexican media. Velasco, his wife and 21 year old son, Misael, were killed by intruders who broke into his home early Wednesday morning, 21 June. Velasco wrote the column Va de Nuez, or “In a nutgraph”.
Notiver is a very important local newspaper that was well known for its crime reporting. According to a Veracruz based reporter, the daily newspaper has tamed its reporting style since last year, supposedly after threats from drug lords.
A review of crime reporting, conducted by the Mexico City-based Fundacion MEPI de Periodismo de Investigacion, found that Notiver had reduced the number of organized crime stories it covered in the first six months of 2010. In 2007, drug traffickers allegedly left a human head in front of the newspaper’s office with left a note that mentioned Lopez Velasco’s nickname.
