(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 January 2005 IAPA press release: IAPA calls for investigation into harassment of Mexican newspaper Miami (January 12, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has asked the Mexican Government for a prompt investigation into complaints received from the Oaxaca-based newspaper Noticias, alleging that it is being harassed […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 January 2005 IAPA press release:
IAPA calls for investigation into harassment of Mexican newspaper
Miami (January 12, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has asked the Mexican Government for a prompt investigation into complaints received from the Oaxaca-based newspaper Noticias, alleging that it is being harassed by state government officials in reprisal for its editorial stance.
In a letter sent to Interior Minister Santiago Creel Miranda, IAPA President Alejandro Miró Quesada and Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, urged the Mexican official to make inquiries into the complaints presented to the IAPA on a number of incidents against Noticias newspaper. The Government of Oaxaca is allegedly behind the incidents, which are limiting the newspaper’s ability to operate.
Below is the complete text of the letter:
“Dear Interior Minister:
On behalf of the Inter American Press Association, comprised of representatives of more than 1,300 newspapers in the Americas, we call your attention to the situation facing Noticias newspaper in Oaxaca. The newspaper’s directors have complained that they have been pressured by state officials, resulting in restrictions on the media outlet’s press freedom.
Although we understand that this is a state matter, we come to you under the presumption that all recourses at that level have been exhausted.
According to Noticias owner Ericel Gómez Nucamendi, former Oaxaca governor José Murat Casab and current Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, both from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), are responsible for instigating actions against the newspaper and its directors in retaliation for its independent and critical editorial stance.
The newspaper’s main complaint is with respect to the occupation since the end of November 2004 of a rural plot of land, which houses a warehouse used by Noticias to store newsprint and other supplies. The government claims that the land has been occupied for “agricultural reasons”. The building has been seized on two occasions, under both governments. During the first occupation, an individual was murdered, and attempts were made to incriminate Goméz Nucamendi in the crime.
The occupation continues and the newspaper has been unable to access its goods. It has been forced to make special arrangements with its supplier to receive weekly shipments of paper, which until now has kept the newspaper from having to shut down.
The directors also claim that the newspaper is being discriminated against through the allocation of government advertising, and that private companies are being pressured not to advertise in Noticias, or risk facing problems in their dealings with government. In addition, four of the newspaper’s news stands have been set on fire and graffiti against the Noticias directors often appears in public places.
Minister, we kindly ask that you pay attention to this matter and promptly investigate this situation that raises doubts about press freedom in Mexico. As stipulated in the Sixth Principle of the Declaration of Chapultepec on freedom of expression and of the press, “The media and journalists should neither be discriminated against nor favored because of what they write or say.”
