(RSF/IFEX) – Around 20 men in police uniforms searched the Tijuana home of the widow of Jesús Blancornelas, founder of the weekly review “Zeta”, in what RSF described as a probable attempt to intimidate the family and the prize-winning magazine. The men did not produce a search warrant or any other official document when they […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Around 20 men in police uniforms searched the Tijuana home of the widow of Jesús Blancornelas, founder of the weekly review “Zeta”, in what RSF described as a probable attempt to intimidate the family and the prize-winning magazine. The men did not produce a search warrant or any other official document when they entered Genoveva Villalon’s home on 29 August 2008 and proceeded to film inside. Unofficial sources said the unit had received an anonymous tip-off and were searching for drugs. RSF called on the state authorities to explain the incident.
Jesús Blancornelas, founder of “Zeta” (laureate of the 2004 Reporters Without Borders-Fondation de France press freedom award in the media category), died on 23 November 2006 after a long illness. The magazine continues to devote much of its coverage to organised crime and in particular to the Arellano Felix brothers cartel, which has proved a costly practice. One of “Zeta”‘s co-founders, Héctor Felix Miranda, was murdered on 20 April 1988 and an editor and editorialist, Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, was killed on 22 June 2004. Blancornelas himself survived a murder attempt in November 1997.
