Attacks on the Press in 2013: Mexico
The climate of press freedom in Mexico, despite a new president, remained perilous. Although President Enrique Peña Nieto gave final approval to a measure adopted at the end of Felipe Calderón’s term that gives federal authorities broader jurisdiction to investigate crimes against freedom of expression, the special prosecutor’s office designated to handle such investigations dragged…
Mexican documentary ‘Presumed Guilty’ finds justice
In the three years since its theatrical premiere, the Mexican documentary “Presumed Guilty” (“Presunto Culpable”) has earned enough headlines to make any film publicist envious. The movie has been banned, disparaged, acclaimed, and the subject of multiple lawsuits. Along the way, it has broken every documentary box office record in Mexico. Now a series of…
Mexican crime reporter abducted in Veracruz
New York, February 5, 2014–Armed assailants today abducted Mexican crime beat reporter Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz in the town of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz state, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the kidnappers to release him immediately.
Journalists silenced as cartels reach outskirts of Mexico City
A POSTHUMOUS RELEASE OF MIKE O’CONNOR’S FINAL PIECE FOR CPJ New York, January 15, 2014–Organized crime has taken over Neza, a town on the outskirts of Mexico City, but journalists are not reporting on it because they fear for their lives, the late Mike O’Connor found in his final article for the Committee to Protect…
Remembering Mike O’Connor
It is a sad end to 2013 for the global press freedom community. With the sudden death of CPJ Mexico Representative Mike O’Connor, 67, on Sunday, Mexican journalists have lost one of their most formidable advocates. Mike will be remembered as someone who was on the forefront of the struggle for press freedom. His superb…
CPJ testifies on challenges to democracy in the Americas
Carlos Lauría’s testimony starts at 1:10 in the video. Carlos Lauría, CPJ’s Americas senior program coordinator, provided testimony before the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of US House of Representatives on Tuesday. Lauría emphasized that violence and government harassment are the main emerging trends that illustrate the major challenges facing the press in the Western…
Mexico drops charges in Blancornelas murder attempt
New York, September 6, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the decision of a Mexican judge to dismiss charges against Marco Arturo Quiñones Sánchez, one of the gunmen implicated in the 1997 assassination attempt against J. Jesús Blancornelas, founder and former editor of the Tijuana-based weekly magazine Zeta. The editors of Zeta told…
Mexico’s special prosecutor hesitates over early cases
Organized crime capos and corrupt politicians have been getting away with murdering journalists in Mexico for so long that there isn’t a reliable count on the number of the dead or a useful way to measure the crushing effects on a democracy when a country’s press is afraid to tell the truth. CPJ research shows…