Mexico's journalists kidnapped, tortured and killed-Calderon won't investigate
- photos of dead journalists, from 8/7/10 protest in Mexico, left from Fresno Bee, right from harvestCanadaEast
- and get away with it.
- forced to write what the traffickers want them to write,
- intimidated, kidnapped and killed.
- But you won't read about it here in this border city.
- As the drug war scales new heights of savagery, one of the devastating byproducts of the carnage is the drug traffickers' chilling ability to co-opt underpaid and under-protected journalists — who are haunted by the knowledge that they are failing in their journalistic mission of informing society.
- did not want to be named for fear of antagonizing the cartels.
- "We don't like the silence. But it's survival."
- But a ferocious increase in violence, including the July 26 kidnapping of four reporters, has pushed the profession into a crisis never before seen, drawn renewed international attention and spurred fresh activism on the part of Mexican newsmen and women.
- Few killings are ever investigated,
- "It is not a lack of valor on the part of the journalists.
- It is a lack of backing," said broadcaster Jaime Aguirre.
- It is in Mexico's far-flung states where narco-censorship is most severe.
- And so the journalists pull their punches.
- The bruised, strangled body of Durango reporter Bladimir Antuna was recovered late last year with a scrawled note attached:
- knowing their publications are being watched and
- their newsrooms infiltrated, they avoid publishing anything that risks falling into a questionable category.
- That's why the Reynosa shootout two weeks ago wasn't reported.
- Not that regional Mexican papers are squeamish. They will publish
- any number of grisly photographs of
- But not information that will offend the cartel in charge.
- the social media too have been usurped by traffickers,
- who use the system to spread rumors and stoke panic.
- "It is disinformation. It is a disservice to society," Cardenas told The Times late last year.
- But after a couple of days of publishing reports, employees at one newspaper said they were ordered, presumably by Salcedo's killers, to cease. The news, attracting attention in Los Angeles and Washington, was "heating the plaza."
- the warden was allowing inmates to go out at night on killing rampages.
- The videos showed police who had apparently been abducted and
- were "confessing" at gunpoint.
- Blood still seeping from his scalp, a bruised Alejandro Hernandez spoke of the ordeal:
- five days of torture,
- beatings with a plank,
- threats of an ugly death.
- their news outlets met the traffickers' demands and
- aired the cartel videos.
- 8/16, LA Times, "Under threat from Mexican drug cartels, reporters go silent," Tracy Wilkinson
- CALDERON DOESN'T SPEAK UP ABOUT MEDIA BLACKOUT which keeps organized crime in charge. All the stories about the military just provide cover. ed.
""Our newsrooms have been infiltrated by these (gang) reporters, they monitor what we write,
they know where we live. With this system, the narcos have direct control over us," said a local newspaper editor who declined to be named for safety.
Many of the rogue journalists do little to hide their dealings with traffickers and have been seen arriving at news conferences or crime scenes in flashy new SUVs accompanied by armed men, often to prevent news of any killings getting out.
One reporter in the border town of Nuevo Progreso said his job involved taking cash from corrupt local police in the pay of the Gulf cartel and distributing it to local reporters.
Others caught by the army at sporadic checkpoints have struggled to explain the hundreds of dollars bulging in their wallets when most local reporters earn less than $400 a month.
Directors at El Manana and La Prensa in Reynosa were not immediately available for comment.
'NO TROUBLE HERE'
The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said it is aware some journalists are working for cartels.
"We know this is happening. It is a consequence of the huge level of influence these criminals exert," said Carlos Lauria, the committee's senior coordinator for the Americas.
Desperate to spread news of the new outbreak of violence, residents in and around Reynosa have turned to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to post cell phone videos of shootouts and report suspicious activity.
"One of the fundamental human rights has been taken away in this part of Mexico and the
federal government is not speaking out about it," said Alberto Islas, an independent security analyst in Mexico City.
Some honest reporters choose not to report the violence out of fear for their safety. Cartel attacks have made Mexico one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, the CPJ says, with at least 24 journalists killed here since 2006.
So-called narco-reporters may be at an even greater risk of getting caught up in the turf wars. Five reporters suspected of working for the Gulf cartel went missing two weeks ago in Reynosa.
"We don't know who they angered but it wasn't because of their journalism. Two of the reporters hadn't published anything in months," said a colleague of the missing journalists.
Local politicians say the Gulf cartel, which controls a third of narcotics shipments into the United States, is keeping its war with the Zetas as quiet as possible to avoid provoking army deployments that could disrupt its smuggling operations.
Calderon has sent thousands of troops across Mexico to curb drug gang operations, but the army presence around Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros
is still relatively light.
"The Gulf cartel's message is: there's nothing happening here," said a town councilor in Rio Bravo next door to Reynosa.
"The hitmen even pick up their dead after gunfights so there's no evidence of what's going on," he added."
Labels: In Mexico, news outlets constantly under threat of death, reporters
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