AUGUST 5, 2007
Posted August 16, 2007
Edwin Meneses Santiago, El Seminario del Istmo
Daniel Pérez Espinoza, El Seminario del Istmo
THREATENED
Meneses, a reporter for the Salina Cruz-based weekly El Semanario del Istmo, and Pérez, the paper’s deputy director, told CPJ they received repeated telephone threats during the days that followed the August 5 shooting of Mexican journalist Alberto Fernández Portilla, the weekly’s editor.
According to Meneses, an unidentified individual called his cell phone on August 5 and August 7. The caller told Meneses: “You’ll be the next. Next time we’re not going to miss,” the journalist told CPJ. Pérez said that since Fernández was shot he has received similar calls on several occasions.
Fernández, also news director at local radio station XEKZ, was shot three times early on August 5, as he was coming home from a restaurant. The journalist told CPJ that he remains in stable condition at a public hospital in Salina Cruz. Police are providing 24-hour protection for Fernández, he said.
Meneses said he filed a report with the special prosecutor for crimes against the press in Oaxaca. Pérez told CPJ that he planned to file a report on August 8. Both men are requesting police protection.
Salina Cruz is located on the Pacific Coast, about 186 miles (299 kilometers) from the state capital of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.