(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Santiago Creel Miranda, RSF protested the attacks and threats against six journalists. According to RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard, these cases point to “a deterioration in the state of press freedom.” The organisation asked for the launch of an investigation into each case, particularly since state […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Santiago Creel Miranda, RSF protested the attacks and threats against six journalists. According to RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard, these cases point to “a deterioration in the state of press freedom.” The organisation asked for the launch of an investigation into each case, particularly since state agents may be implicated in five of them. RSF also asked that “measures be taken to protect the threatened journalists.”
According to the information collected by RSF, for the last few weeks, the home of Francisco Guerrero, director of the Morelos state (southern Mexico) edition of the newspaper “La Jornada”, has been under surveillance by unknown individuals. At the beginning of November 2001, individuals working in the journalist’s home were stopped in the street and threatened with death if they did not hand over some of Guerrero’s documents. In early September, the newspaper’s general manager was attacked. “La Jornada” had accused a Ministry of Justice official of being implicated in an assassination. The publication had also condemned the alleged existence of a cell within the Morelos state government in charge of keeping an eye on members of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations.
Furthermore, on 6 November, RSF learned that writer and journalist Sergio Aguayo had received death threats. Aguayo recently published “La Charola”, a book in which he implicated the Mexican secret service in political assassinations.
On 5 November, judicial police officers threatened and beat up Wiliam Casanova Vasquez and Fernando Acosta, journalists for the newspaper “Diario de Yucatan”, while they were investigating a traffic accident.
On 1 November, Fabian Antonio Santiago Hernández, of the newspaper “El Liberal del Sur” (Veracruz state), was attacked by Coatzacoalcos municipal councillor Luis René Morales Romero. Armed with a knife, Morales Romero pounced on the journalist, who wanted to question him about a diversion of funds for which the councillor was allegedly responsible. Some of the councillor’s colleagues intervened, allowing the journalist to escape.
On 23 October, Ernesto Villanueva, a professor specialising in the right to information and a contributor to the weekly “Proceso”, was pursued by unknown individuals while he was on his way home. Soon afterwards, he received a threatening telephone call against him and his family. Villanueva was known for his criticisms of the draft law on access to public information, which had appeared in the press.
