(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 August 2001 IAPA press release: IAPA asks authorities to look into defamatory statements against media company Miami (28 August 2001) – In a letter to Mexican Minister of the Interior Santiago Creel Miranda, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked for an investigation into statements made by a […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 August 2001 IAPA press release:
IAPA asks authorities to look into defamatory statements against media company
Miami (28 August 2001) – In a letter to Mexican Minister of the Interior Santiago Creel Miranda, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked for an investigation into statements made by a government official who alleged that one of the country’s media companies was linked to drug traffickers. These statements were made following the publication of a report on the official’s involvement in a 1975 violent episode, which occurred in Sonora state.
On 24 July 2001, the company Periodicos Healy, comprised of the newspapers El Imparcial, based in Sonora, La Cronica, based in Mexicali, and the Tijuana-based Frontera, published an investigative report on the role of General Francisco Arellano Noblecía, Federal Preventive Police captain, in connection with the events surrounding the eviction of a number of peasants. Seven individuals were killed during the eviction which, according to witnesses, was led by Arellano Noblecía.
In a recent interview, Arellano Noblecía argued that drug traffickers, who he alleges are linked to Periodicos Healy, were the source of these accusations against him. Following is the text of the letter that was sent to the Mexican minister of the interior and signed by the president of the hemispheric organization, Danilo Arbilla, of the Uruguayan weekly Búsqueda, and by the president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, of the Dominican Republic-based magazine Ahora.
“To the Minister of the Interior,
“The Inter American Press Association is concerned over recent defamatory statements made by General Francisco Arellano Noblecía, police commissioner and coordinator of the Federal Auxiliary Forces of the Federal Preventive Police, who suggested that the Mexican publishing company Periodicos Healy is linked to drug trafficking. This was clearly an attempt to deflect the media’s attention and a retaliation against recently published articles on the general’s involvement in the 23 October 1975 eviction. Seven peasants were killed during that eviction which occurred in San Ignacio Río Muerto, Sonora state.
“Our organization was surprised when the police commissioner alleged that this media company is connected with drug trafficking, and publicly exhibited two cheques in the amount of millions made out to Periodicos Healy and signed in 1981 and 1983 by drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero.
The police commissioner made this allegation after the publication of a recent investigative report on his involvement in the 1975 episode. His accusation is currently being examined by the Congress’ Permanent Commission.
“On behalf of the more than 1,300 publications distributed in the Western hemisphere, including those of the company Periodicos Healy, and given the events outlined above, we respectfully ask you to do everything necessary so that Francisco Arellano Noblecía’s statements and his conduct as a public official are investigated, at the same time ensuring that press freedom and the public’s right to access information without restrictions are safeguarded.”
