Let's hear it for Mexican reporters who really do care about getting the truth out.
Armed Assault on Nuevo Laredo's Newspaper February 7, 2006
El Mañana is Nuevo Laredo's largest daily newspaper. The paper has a reputation for honest reporting, the courage to cover narcotics and the maquiladoras, and for giving a voice to workers and the poor in Nuevo Laredo. Consequently it has been a frequent target of narco traffickers, corporate interests, and government repression. It happened again Monday when the newspaper was invaded by gunmen at 7:45 P.M. At least two men wearing hoods entered the newspaper's offices carrying high caliber weapons and opened fire on reporters and staff who were at work on the morning edition. Carrying AR-15 and AK-47 rifles and grenades, the intruders shot up the reception area and proceeded to the editorial office where they continued firing.
Rest of story and action items after the jump.
Info provided by
Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
I had the privilege of meeting Ninfa Deandar and members of her staff last year in Nuevo Laredo.
A reporter later wrote, "We were working as normal at our computers. Suddenly I heard the sound of breaking glass. I felt something sting my face. I heard blasts and my immediate reaction was to throw myself to the floor. I hid under my computer table and listened to more shots. All the reporters were trying to hide. Our fear grew when we heard the explosion of a fragmentation grenade. Someone yelled, "They're going to kill all of us."
The grenade exploded in front of the offices of the editorial directors. A couple of meters from there was Jaime Orozco Tey, a twenty-eight year old reporter, who was shot five times. He had two bullets in the chest, two in the upper abdomen, one of which had hit his spine. Orozco was taken to a private hospital where he is in critical condition. Doctors say that if he lives, he'll never walk again. Others were injured from flying glass and debris, but Orozco was the only one shot. He appears to have been targeted by the gunmen.
Orozco reported on the narco wars. Just this week El Mañana co-hosted and reported on a national conference on Drug Trafficking and the Role of the Media. Orozco had also been covering the struggles of maquiladora workers who are challenging the decades-long legacy of corrupt unionism of the recently deceased CTM leader Chema Morales. The paper recently denounced the mayor for his crooked management of the city's water system and for the eviction of the residents of colonia Blanca Navidad, where maquila workers lived. Early last Thursday morning, police burned down many houses, and by Friday city bulldozers had destroyed the rest. Orozco was covering the repression of the families who were sitting in in the city's central plaza demanding justice. In one article he quoted Martha Rubio Quirino, an eleven-year-old who lived in Blanca Navidad Colonia, "The police arrived and took everything. The machines uprooted the houses. My mother yelled at me and I got out. Later I saw her crying. I saw everyone running. It scared me because the machines didn't wait, and they killed some people."
This is not the first time El Mañana has been attacked. In March 2004, the paper's editor, Roberto Mora García, was murdered under very mysterious circumstances, and the crime was never solved. At that time, because the drug war was so out of control and because there was no protection for reporters, the paper took measures to protect itself on delicate and risky matters. According to an editorial, "We decided to cover only the facts, not mention names of the drug cartels, handle information so we could survive this war. . ."
The current editor, Daniel Rosas, told Reuters that the gunmen's methods and weapons left little doubt they were involved in the drug trade. "It is very early to tell, but given the type of arms they used, you draw your own conclusions," he said. Attacks on journalists who cover the drug wars are common in Mexico, but Rosas said there had been no recent death threats against the paper.
An editorial said, "This war is insane. It's not Nuevo Laredo's war, nor the media's, nor El Mañana's, nor society's but all of us suffer the consequences of the violence." The editors also said, "Who was responsible? We don't know. It could have been anyone. They are phantoms. Often they use the media attacking us to blame an opposing gang and justify some supposed authority's reaction against a rival group. It's a form of terrorism."
Nuevo Laredo is the largest port of entry into the United States. It connects to I-35 which goes north into America's heartland. Six thousand trailers cross the border each day, and, according to the editors, US customs only inspects fifty to sixty. For at least the last year, the State of Tamaulipas and especially Nuevo Laredo have experienced a marked increase in drug-related violence spurred by Mexican President Vicente Fox's declaration of war on drug cartels and wars between rival cartels fighting over turf and political patronage. The attack on El Mañana, however, represents a new, more blatant level of violence.
In the midst of the tragedy, El Mañana reiterated its proposal for a solution and called for redirection of the enormous drug war budget toward "free, accessible drug rehabilitation programs for addicts" and the decriminalization and control of less addictive and dangerous drugs.
El Mañana's crusade for peace and justice has won substantial support from the people of Nuevo Laredo. When they heard that Jaime Orozco needed a transfusion, dozens of citizens went to the hospital to donate. As news of the attack on the paper spread, thousands called to express their support.
After the Red Cross left and with police still in the building, many of the workers began cleaning up. Someone said, "The paper will go out. It must." And it did.
How you can help
Send a letter or email to Mexican President Vicente Fox demanding investigation and protection for the freedom of the press in Mexico.
Vicente Fox Quezada
Email: vicente.fox.quesada@presidencia.gob.mx
Write the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights of the OASand request that they investigate the violation of human rights and the failure of the Mexican government to protect freedom of the press in Mexico.
Address: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1889 F St., NW, Washington, D.C., USA 20006.
E-mail: cidhoea@oas.org