(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior (Secretario de Gobernacion) Santiago Creel Miranda, RSF expressed concern over the death threats received by the son of Eduardo Lopez Betancourt, academic and contributor to the newspapers “Excélsior” and “México Hoy” and the magazine “La Crisis”. The organisation asked the minister of the interior to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior (Secretario de Gobernacion) Santiago Creel Miranda, RSF expressed concern over the death threats received by the son of Eduardo Lopez Betancourt, academic and contributor to the newspapers “Excélsior” and “México Hoy” and the magazine “La Crisis”. The organisation asked the minister of the interior to launch an investigation so that those behind the threats are identified and their motives are established. RSF is also concerned over the number of summonses Lopez Betancourt is facing, despite the Prosecutor’s Office’s recommendation that all cases against him be dropped. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard asked that the minister “shed light on the journalist’s legal situation and in particular on the threats against his liberty.” RSF recalled that according to United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Abid Hussain,
“imprisonment as a sentence for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious human rights violation.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 29 May 2001 unknown individuals riding in two vehicles intercepted Carlos Lopez Mérigo, Lopez Betancourt’s son, and said: “if your father does not leave the country, we will kill you.” Subsequently, the academic and journalist temporarily left Mexico. He has been receiving threats since May 2000, ever since Secretary of State for Public Security Alejandro Gertz Manero filed a complaint against him for “defamation.” Even though Lopez Betancourt provided the authorities with tape recordings of the threats, they have thus far failed to inform him of any progress in the investigation. He notes that the threat against his son occurred while a number of academics were expressing their support for him in the press. On 23 June, his family was served with an order to appear before the court, because of his refusal to obey the judge’s notices. He faces at least one more summons order. Lopez Betancourt was surprised by these summonses, as in a January document, of which he has a copy, the Prosecutor’s Office recommended that all cases against him be dropped because of a lack of evidence.
