H.E. Felipe Calderon
President
Residencia Official de los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
11850 Mexico, DF
Mexico
Fax: (011.52.5) 515.5729
Your Excellency:
The murder of another journalist, crime reporter, Armando Rodrigues, of “El Diario” in Ciudad Juarez, prompts this latest expression of concern from the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) about our Mexican colleagues and your government’s approach to press freedom issues.
We begin by asking for the fullest and speediest investigation of the shocking Rodriguez murder in his own garage with his young daughter, Ximena, sitting in the car beside him. Sadly, this is only the latest in a long series of attacks on journalists as your country faces continuing drug cartel violence and civil unrest. We understand that your government is not responsible for the actions of narco-criminals, and that members of the media are hardly the only victims. But many Americans see the protection of press freedom — with swift national and local government or judicial action when that freedom is threatened — as a key indicator of any society’s true commitment to democracy and justice.
In that regard, we are pleased to note that the Sinaloa state congress has approved an initiative to classify threats and attacks on journalists and media outlets as “serious crimes,” as reported by Centro de Periodismo y Etica Publica (CEPT) and the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX). On the other hand, we must agree with representatives of the Colima state journalists’ union that a proposed law in the local congress on “Protection of Journalists” could be used as an element of censorship and control over news work. As reported by CEPT/IFEX, Juan Ramón Negrete Jiménez of the Federation of Mexican Journalist Associations (Fapermex) warns that creating communication councils entrusted with the control and ethics regulation of media could well be a way of “opening doors to external organisms foreign to journalism so that they can interfere in the internal life of the media”.
Again, on the positive side, we are pleased to note the arrest last month of several individuals involved in a 2006 attack on members of Radio Calenda in Oaxaca, as reported by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). But we join with AMARC-Mexico in calling for Oaxaca state authorities to implement measures to prevent retaliation against Radio Calenda members. And we share the concerns expressed by Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) about charges brought against members of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) in connection with the fatal shooting of journalist, Bradley Will. CNDH has said the arrests indicate that the PGR has ignored its findings of irregularities in the investigation that led to charges in the journalist’s assassination.
Beyond these major cases, and understanding the difficult times that Mexico now faces, we nevertheless urge your government to do more to promote prompt legal action against press intimidation, especially when it involves national and state government employees.
We are aware, for example, that armed police burst into the office of the newspaper, “El Mexicano,” in Ciudad Juárez, early last month, looking for columnist and contributor, Mario Héctor Silva, to demand that he reveal his sources. About the same time, we also note, Federal Preventive Police (PFP) officers detained photographer, Israel García Gurrola, of the “La Voz de la Frontera” newspaper in Mexicali, while he was taking photographs of various PFP vehicles in the federal government’s operations against organized crime. According to IFEX, Article 19 and Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (CENCOS), this is another in a long list of incidents in which journalists have been arbitrarily assaulted and detained by government security forces this year.
Again, we say that a decent concern for the world’s opinion — not to mention, that of ordinary Mexicans — should prompt your administration to work as hard as possible to prevent such incidents, prosecute those that occur and, by other examples, make it clear that press freedom remains a high priority throughout your nation.
Respectfully yours,
David M. Alpern
Larry Martz
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Hon. Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza
Attorney General
Avenida Paseo de la Reforma, Nos. 211-213
Mexico, DF, C.P. 06500
Mexico
Olga María del Carmen Sánchez
Ministra
Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación
Pino Súarez, No.2
Colonia Centro, México, DF
México
Fax: (011.525.55) 522.0152
Genaro David Góngora Pimentel
Ministro Presidente
Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación
Pino Súarez, No.2, Colonia Centro
México, DF
México
Fax: (011.525.55) 522.0152
H.E. Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S.A.
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Fax: (202) 728.1698
Ambassador Claude Heller
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations
2 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 688.8862
H.E. Antonio O. Garza, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Embassy of the United States of America
P.O. Box 9000
Brownsville, TX 78520
Fax: (011.52.55) 5080.2005
Lcda. Rosario Robles
Presidenta
Partido de la Revolución Democrática
Huatusco # 37, 5o. piso
Col. Roma Sur
México, D.F.
Fax: (011.52.55) 5207.1200
New York City Independent Media Center
4 West 43rd Street, Suite 311
New York, NY 10036
Patricia Mercado Sanchez
Editor
El Economista
Mexico DF
Mexico
pmercado@economista.com.mx
Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz
El Universal of Mexico City
Bucareli N° 8, Col. Centro
Delegación Cuauhtémoc, C.P. 06040
México
Ramón Darío Cantú Deándar
El Maòana
Mexico
Fax: (011.52.5) 714.8797