Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Americas: Country Summarieslaw enforcement officials, particularly at the state level. The reportfound that some journalists, too, had become tools of criminal groupsby taking money to write cartel propaganda. It blamed a weak, corrupt,and overburdened justice system for failing to investigate crimes againstjournalists, thus encouraging further crimes. The report concludedthat the national crisis demanded a forceful response from the federalgovernment.Two weeks after the report was published, a joint delegation from CPJand the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) met with the Mexicanpresident. After a 90-minute discussion, Calderón pledged to push forlegislation that would make attacks on journalists a federal crime, andestablish accountability at senior levels of the national government. Callingthe right to free expression a priority of his administration, the presidentsaid federal authorities would implement a program to provide securityto at-risk journalists, modeled after a successful effort in Colombia. Hesaid federal forces were working to improve human rights training, and hepledged receptiveness to journalists’ concerns about human rights violationsby law enforcement.CPJ and IAPA have long advocated federal intervention to address thecrisis. The meeting, in the presidential office in Los Pinos, included AttorneyGeneral Arturo Chávez Chávez and Minister of Interior José FranciscoBlake Mora. The CPJ delegation was led by Executive Director Joel Simon,and included board member María Teresa Ronderos, Senior Program CoordinatorCarlos Lauría, and Mexico representative Mike O’Connor. TheIAPA delegation, led by Vice President Gonzalo Marroquín, included ExecutiveDirector Julio Muñoz and Press Institute Director Ricardo Trotti.Calderón also announced the arrest of a suspect in the 2008 murder ofprominent Ciudad Juárez reporter Armando Rodríguez Carreón. A veterancrime reporter for El Diario, Rodríguez was shot in front of his youngdaughter in November 2008. Since then, the investigation has stalled andhis newspaper has campaigned intensively for justice. Attorney GeneralChávez said that the suspect and his accomplices had been motivated byRodriguez’s coverage of drug trafficking. But a day after the president’sannouncement, El Diario reported that the suspect, Juan Soto Arias, hadbeen tortured and coerced to confess to the journalist’s slaying. Mexicanauthorities did not comment on the El Diario report, which was based onunnamed sources.By late year, the administration moved forward on its broad pledgesto protect the press. In November, the Ministry of Interior announceddetails of a program to provide at-risk journalists with a range ofprotective measures, including bodyguards, armored cars, and relocationassistance. Yet some journalists and press groups were dissatisfied with105