Francisco Arratia Saldierna

Mexico

While journalists in the capital, Mexico City, report freely on government, crime, and corruption, reporters in the U.S.-Mexico border region risk grave danger in covering sensitive topics, such as drug trafficking. Two border journalists were killed for their work in 2004.

Francisco Ortiz Franco, 48, an editor and reporter with the tabloid weekly Zeta, was gunned down in front of his children in broad daylight near downtown Tijuana on June 22. Federal authorities took over the investigation in August after evidence linked the killing to organized crime.

New York, February 10, 2005-The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent attack on Mexican journalist Jorge Cardona Villegas, who covers crime in the northern state of Nuevo León. Since the attack, he has gone into hiding.

At around 5:50 a.m. on Monday, February 7, Cardona's house and his car were hit by several rounds of bullets, allegedly fired by one armed assailant, Assistant State Prosecutor Aldo Fasci Zuazua told CPJ. Cardona, who lives alone and was sleeping at the time, stayed on the floor until the police came and was not injured. The police found more than 50 bullet cases from a machine gun.

New York, September 1, 2004—A Mexican columnist who wrote about government corruption and crime was beaten to death yesterday in the city of Matamoros, near the United States border. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the murder was tied to his reporting.

Francisco Arratia Saldierna, 55, wrote a column called "Portavoz" (Spokesman) that appeared in four newspapers throughout the state of Tamaulipas—El Imparcial and El Regional, in Matamoros, and Mercurio and El Cinco, in Ciudad Victoria, the state capital. It also appeared in the Internet publication "En Línea Directa."