(PFC/IFEX) – The mayor of Zimapán, Rosalina Gómez Rosas, has launched a defamation suit against Juan Lozano Trejo and other journalists from the regional newspaper “El Huarache” for publishing information about presumed irregularities in the municipality over which she presides. On 1 July 2003, it was revealed that the Hidalgo state Attorney General’s Office had […]
(PFC/IFEX) – The mayor of Zimapán, Rosalina Gómez Rosas, has launched a defamation suit against Juan Lozano Trejo and other journalists from the regional newspaper “El Huarache” for publishing information about presumed irregularities in the municipality over which she presides. On 1 July 2003, it was revealed that the Hidalgo state Attorney General’s Office had called upon Lozano Trejo, director of “El Huarache”, to identify the authors of the articles in which the mayor was mentioned.
In a related incident, Lozano Trejo and one of his colleagues were held hostage for 10 hours in June 2002 after obtaining information about misappropriation of lands in the municipality of Chilcuautla. The kidnappers, who were presumed to be close to the former mayor of the area, tied up and threatened the journalists. They also robbed them of about $US1,000 as well as the sound equipment which they had in their vehicle.
The complaint against Lozano Trejo and the other “El Huarache” journalists is the latest in a series of incidents between Hidalgo government officials or political leaders and media workers, relating to the publication of information about cases of corruption and improper conduct.
Alfredo Ortega Apendinni, a federal congressional candidate for the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) party from district VI in Hidalgo, announced that on 7 July, a day after the congressional elections, he would reveal legal actions that he has initiated against several media outlets for having published information about an incident in which he beat his father in the street.
In June, Senator José Antonio Hagenbeck launched a complaint against “Zu Noticia” newspaper and other media outlets for having reported that he caused a disturbance in a bar, while in a drunken state (see IFEX alert of 20 June 2003).
In addition, at the end of May, PAN legislator Herlindo Bautista Sánchez presented a list of journalists he alleged to be “swindlers” to the Hidalgo state legislature. He also submitted a document prepared by one of his colleagues in which he accused Hidalgo media outlets of having “sold out” and being “in the service of the government” (see alert of 12 June 2003).
In a letter to Hidalgo Attorney General Juan Manuel Sepúlveda, PFC requested that the complaint against Lozano Trejo and the other “El Huarache” journalists be dismissed. As mentioned in previous letters to Sepúlveda, PFC laments the fact that cases of supposed insults against the honour of government officials or individuals in the public eye become criminal matters in Hidalgo. “We are concerned about the lack of response to the requests of organisations like PFC and other Hidalgo sectors, which have insisted on calling attention to the increase in threats against the press. The authorities have failed to take action to protect the media,” PFC concluded.
For PFC’s letter to the Hidalgo attorney general and additional information, see: http://www.portal-pfc.org.perseguidos/2003/087.html
This alert has been prepared by PFC with information from the Agencia de Noticias Confidencial (ANC) news agency, a journalists’ group that has been promoting a press freedom and anti-corruption movement in Mexico since 2001.
