In Mexico drug cartels continue to dictate news agenda and in some areas, have even infiltrated the newsroom. A new investigation by Fundacion MEPI reveals the extent to which news outlets fear of cartel retaliation and a shortage of accurate government information keep the public in the dark
Another attack targeting the Mexican media was carried out on 29 July. The Monterrey-based offices of the regional daily El Norte, a newspaper owned by the Reforma publishing group, were set on fire by armed men late on Sunday. It was the third attack on one of the daily’s offices in the past month. The office attacked Sunday covers the weddings and community events of the elite living in the upper-class enclave of Monterrey’s San Pedro Garza Garcia.
Mexico’s Congress this week approved a law for the protection of human rights workers and journalists. The law requires that journalists and media outlets facing attacks because of their work should be offered protection.
The law was unanimously approved, perhaps as a result of the news that on 27 April, two days before the vote, journalist Regina Hernandez was found beaten and strangled in her home in the southern state of Veracruz.
In March, the murder of journalists was made a federal crime. State and municipal authorities are often suspected of being susceptible to pressure from organised crime groups or corrupt local officials. Most of the murders of journalists occur in the interior of Mexico, very often on the US border, where intense drug cartel wars have made the region one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters.
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.