6 Jun 2011 | Americas, Mexico
The ongoing violence against Mexico’s media workers means there is little surprise when another journalist is found dead. Twelve journalists have been killed in Mexico in the last 18 months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). But the recent discovery of the body of Noel Lopez Holguin marks the first recent case where the state can prove direct link between the murder of a journalist and drug traffickers. Holgiun disappeared on 8 March. His body was found in a shallow grave in a hamlet near Jaltipan, his hometown, after police arrested a local drug boss who is part of the Zetas, a violent local drug cartel.
Gang leader Alejandro Castro Chirinos, nicknamed El Dragón, confessed to killing the journalist — Holguin’s camera had been found in his possession.
Holguin’s March disappearance followed the February kidnapping of Fabian Santiago Hernandez, owner of La Verdad of Jaltipan, the newspaper where Holguin worked.
The newspaper published several stories condemning drug cartels and the local police who collude with them.
Hernandez was kidnapped after he wrote an open letter to President Felipe Calderon, published on FaceBook, denouncing the local police. His son was also kidnapped, but both of them were released unharmed a few days later. Jaltipan is a known Zetas strong hold.
20 May 2011 | Americas, Mexico
Community radio stations have had a difficult time in Latin America in the last four years. In Mexico, Brazil and Chile, community radios have been penalised for operating without a government license, according to Aleida Callejas, local director of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC Mexico). In Mexico, the authorities have began using a 2004 law that protects the country’s patrimony or “Ley de Bienes Generales” to punish community radio stations that operate without a government license with prison sentences and fines. This move has been criticised by both the Organisation of American States and the United Nations Special Rappourteur for Freedom of the Press. The new law, which applies its article 150 to community radios, is more draconian than the Radio and Television law used in similar cases in the past.
The case of Hector Camero of Radio Tierra y Libertad in Monterre is the most recent example, Canero was sentenced to two years in prison for operating his station. His case will probably be appealed before the country’s Supreme Court. “The law is draconian” says Callejas.
The debate over whether community radios are legal has been argued robustly across Latin America. In Mexico, promoters argue that they serve underrepresented communities, including indigenous areas. Several community radio stations have eventually managed to obtain operating licenses, a move criticised by commercial networks, who argue that their business is being affected by unlicensed pirate stations. Callejas worries that now, the commercial radio stations are pressuring regional governors across the country to follow the Canero’s example and penalise community radio projects.
10 May 2011 | Uncategorized
A federal judge in Utah this week threw out a lawsuit by Koch Industries, a wealthy corporation that has opposed climate change legislation in the US congress, upholding the First Amendment right of anonymous activists to politically satirise the company online. (more…)
9 May 2011 | Americas, Mexico
Mexico City is the third largest city in the world. And like every major city, its citizens have a love hate relationship with governability. But in the 2010 barometer of the Americas, conducted by Vanderbilt University, 40 per cent of Mexican citizens believed that the rule of law must be respected, a higher ranking than Argentina and Chile, an important comparison given that Mexico is facing unprecedented violence due to its drug war. But citizens want to get involved, and there is a proliferation of citizen journalists.
One of the most interesting citizen groups is called Ciudadanos en Red, or Citizens Connected, an internet portal that was founded in 2004 and has grown to be one of the most important independent citizen journalism groups in Mexico City. The group is consulted daily by journalists, analysts and just curious city residents. It’s director, Rene Solis Brun, says they are different than any other group because they don’t apply filters and only place in their portal the information submitted by citizens. Unlike other citizen internet sites in Mexico, it is not an activist group. It receives announcements, denunciations, and criticisms from 1700 citizen committees, from throughout the city, which it runs on its site without changes. The site has comments on events in the city, including incidents of corruption by government workers. In another the site runs a story of violence at another elementary school in a working class neighborhood. The group Citizens Connected is a project of Metrópoli 2025, a citizen awareness group.
Brun says the site is evidence that people in Mexico City care about their city. His only worry is that most of those involved in citizen groups are people 40 years and older. His organisation is working towards engaging the youth in the city, and has joined Twitter in an attempt to reach out to a younger audience, you can follow them at @ciudadanosenred
