The large family of Mexican radio anchorman Juan Martínez Gil gathered around his coffin in the intense tropical heat of Acapulco’s main cemetery on Thursday. His brother Javier, who identified his badly beaten body on Tuesday, was the least consolable. He leaned across the coffin, his tears flowing down his face onto the dark metal. “Juanito, you…
New York, July 29, 2009–Mexican authorities found the brutally beaten body of a journalist partially buried near the southwestern resort city of Acapulco Tuesday afternoon, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Mexican authorities to thoroughly investigate the killing, and to put an end to the ongoing violence against…
On June 3, 2009, Mexican Judge José Alberto Ciprés Sánchez sentenced Hiram Oliveros Ortiz to 16 years in prison for the 2004 murder of journalist Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial director of the Nuevo Laredo-based daily El Mañana, the paper reported. The following day, Oliveros’ attorney appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the…
On May 27, 2009, an unidentified individual threatened José Bladimir Antuna García, a reporter who covers the police beat for the Durango-based daily El Tiempo. The reporter, who has previously been threatened, told CPJ he believes the death threat is linked to his reporting on organized crime and drug trafficking.
In our special report, “Reporting, and Surviving, in Ciudad Juárez,” CPJ’s Mike O’Connor examines journalism in one of Mexico’s most dangerous places. Here, O’Connor describes how violence is creating pervasive self-censorship in the press. Listen to the mp3 on the player above, or right click here to download. (2:49) Read “Reporting, and Surviving, in…
We issued the following statement in response to a report in the Mexican daily Milenio today that five men were detained in connection with the May 25 killing of Eliseo Barrón Hernández, a reporter and photographer for the local daily La Opinión in the northern Durango state…
On May 9, 2009, four police officers in masks arrested Simón Tiburcio Chávez, publisher of the monthly newspaper Nuevo Amanecer in Alvarado, a city in the southeastern state of Veracruz. The journalist told CPJ that he was held for 25 hours without charge. Tiburcio said he believes his arrest was retaliation for two photographs published…