Mexican drug cartel gunman arrested for attempted murder
New York, January 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Mexican authorities to fully investigate the alleged involvement of Alfredo Araujo Avila, a top hit man for the Arellano Félix drug cartel, in the shooting of editor J. Jesús Blancornelas a decade ago. Araujo was arrested Saturday in Tijuana by the Mexican military, according to…
Gunmen attack director of Mexican daily
New York, January 28, 2008—Mexican journalist Octavio Soto Torres, known for his harsh criticism of local authorities, was shot at by four masked gunmen on Wednesday night while driving in the city of Pánuco, Veracruz state. Soto and his son, 16, who was also in the car, were not shot, but Soto was injured as…
Three media workers murdered in Mexican state of Oaxaca
New York, October 9, 2007—Three media workers for the Oaxaca-based daily El Imparcial del Istmo were shot and killed on Monday afternoon while driving in the southern state of Oaxaca in a vehicle bearing the paper’s logo. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack today and called on Mexican authorities to conduct a prompt…
Mexican journalist recounts abuse during army detention
New York, August 14, 2007—Mexican crime reporter Sinhué Samaniego Osoria spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists today and detailed the abuse that he and three other Mexican reporters suffered during their arrest by Mexican soldiers last week in the northern state of Coahuila. CPJ called on Mexican authorities to investigate the conduct of the…
Journalists detained by Mexican army are released
New York, August 10, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release this afternoon of four Mexican journalists who had been detained on Tuesday night by the army while covering a drug raid. Charges of possession of a firearm and marijuana are still pending against them. The reporters told their lawyer that the weapon and…
Mexican army detains four reporters covering a drug raid
New York, August 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed deep skepticism about drug and weapons charges leveled against four reporters in northern Mexico covering a drug raid. The reporters were detained Tuesday by the Mexican army while they were covering a routine drug raid in the northern state of Coahuila. They have been…
Warnings issued for U.S. reporters working along Mexican border
New York, July 13, 2007—A San Antonio Express-News reporter has been temporarily reassigned from his posting in the border city of Laredo after a U.S. law enforcement source warned that an unspecified American journalist is on the hit list of a Mexican criminal group, the newspaper’s editor said today. The Association of Foreign Correspondents in…
Mexican TV news crew missing since Thursday
New York, May 14, 2007— TV Azteca Noreste reporter Gamaliel López Candanosa and camera operator Gerardo Paredes Pérez went missing on Thursday in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between their disappearance and their professional work.