World

Drug Cartels to Mexican Journalists: Shut Up or Die

Mexican Journalists Regularly Tortured, Killed by Drug Cartels

Police remove from a canal plastic bags containing the dismembered bodies of four people in Boca del Rio, Mexico, Thursday, May 3, 2012. At least three of the slain had worked as news photographers. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

While many mainstream media outlets in the U.S. regularly self-censor their news coverage to further a political agenda or to avoid controversy, editors and journalists across the border in Mexico are facing a much more dire ethical dilemma: stop reporting on organized crime or face death.

Many have taken that risk and as a result at least 81 journalists have been murdered in Mexico from 2000 to 2012 and another 14 have disappeared, according to Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights.

Many media outlets in Mexico are under constant threat from ruthless drug cartels, who are fighting each other for control of various regions of the country. They aim to intimidate and silence their opponents through unspeakable acts of violence and by threatening and or bribing local officials and other influential figures.

Fearing one of their own employees could be marked for death, some news organizations have given up the fight and are no longer reporting at all on drug cartels and organized crime in Mexico.

University of Arizona Assistant Professor Celeste Gonzalez, who has been researching the working conditions for journalists living in Mexico, explained to The Monitor that working as a reporter in Mexico is like working in a U.S. designated war zone.

Mexican Journalists Regularly Tortured, Killed by Drug Cartels

A truck burns on the road in Guadalajara, Mexico, Friday, March 9, 2012. (AP Photo / Bruno González)

“Journalists and newsroom editors are making up the rules as they go along in order to stay alive,” Gonzalez told The Monitor. “Journalists in Mexico are experiencing unprecedented levels of violence and repression, and it appears that in the run-up to the presidential election, the violence in various parts of the country and the repression against journalists and human rights workers has intensified.”

Consider this: In May alone, the mutilated bodies of five journalists have been found in Mexico and shootings rocked the offices of two separate newspapers.

A brief recap of violence against journalists so far this month – and May isn’t over yet:

On May 18 the tortured body of a kidnapped Mexican reporter was found in a black plastic bag on the side of the road in northern Mexico in the state of Sonora, a day after he was kidnapped by gunmen while at a car wash.

The reporter, 39-year-old Marco Antonio Avila Garcia, was married and was a father to three small children. Police reportedly found a message signed by a cartel but did not release it to the public. Avila covered stories about police and organized crime for the paper El Regional de Sonora.

On May 13 – less than a week before Avila’s body was discovered – police found Rene Orta Salgado, who had been strangled to death, stuffed in his own trunk. He had quit his job as a reporter at El Sol de Cuernavaca newspaper in January. A motive for the killing was never provided.

On May 3, the dismembered, mutilated bodies of three Mexican photojournalists – Gabriel Huge, Guillermo Luna Varela and Esteban Rodriguez – were found in plastic bags dumped in a waste canal in Boca del Rio, Mexico.

Other local photographers protested the killings by hanging their cameras outside of Veracruz state’s representative:

Mexican Journalists Regularly Tortured, Killed by Drug Cartels

Photojournalists' cameras hang by a picture of Veracruz state Governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa to protest the killing of photojournalists Esteban Rodriguez, Gabriel Huge and Guillermo Luna in Mexico City, Friday, May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Finally, on May 7, gunfire tore through two newspapers in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas, but thankfully no one was killed in the attack. In response to the shooting one of the newspapers declared defeat and announced they would no longer cover organized crime in Mexico.

The Monitor has more on the shootings:

One of the shootings, May 7 in Reynosa, targeted the offices of Hora Cero. No injuries were reported, but just four days later, El Mañana de Nuevo Laredo was shot at by another group of unknown gunmen.

Soon after the attack, El Mañana ran an editorial stating it would stop publishing stories about organized crime.

El Mañana is run by Ninfa Deandar, while Hora Cero is run by her relative, Heriberto Deandar Robinson. It remains unclear if the attack at both publications was targeted at a specific news article, the newspapers or the Deandar family.

Keep in mind, these instances are just from the past month. I doubt any journalist who is still breathing hasn’t gotten the memo.

When journalists are threatened or killed – many times as a result fear or corruption – authorities routinely fail to protect them or properly investigate and prosecute crimes committed against them. Cases go unsolved and people literally get away with murder.

Due to this unfortunately reality, Mexico is now facing the prospect of drug cartels operating freely with absolutely no oversight by news media and a compromised police force at best.

“We’re living in madness,” an editor of a Veracruz newspaper told The Associated Press, on the condition of anonymity due to concerns for his safety.

The same editor said he found himself caught in the middle of a feud between two cartels, the Zetas and the New Generation, who were fighting for control of territory in Veracruz. While the Zetas urged him to publish news about the killings of Sinola soldiers, the New Generation – a cartel based in Jalisco and affiliated with the powerful Sinola cartel – threatened him to bury the reports.

He also told The AP that the groups even had a media relations teams, who actually e-mailed editors entire stories for them to publish.

Mexico’s drug cartels obviously understand that if they can control the media they can not only shape the perceptions of their enemies, but the rest of the world as well.

The only question left is: Are there any Mexican journalists still alive who will risk their lives to stand up to the murderous cartels?

Comments (77)

  • schroeder123
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 9:57am

    Get elected. get rich. Take bribes. Live like a king. Retire. Doncha love Mexico.

    Report Post » schroeder123  
  • dianna9490
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 9:49am

    Maybe that is why Americans reporters in the Media DOESN’T RESEARCH OR REPORT THE REAL NEWS THAT IS GOING ON IN THE STATES! Maybe they have been threatened by obamascammer or george soros! I have never seen such a BLACKOUT OF THE REAL NEWS!

    Report Post »  
    • SHOWMESTATEGUY
      Posted on May 27, 2012 at 2:29am

      The only group the American MSM feel free to beat up on are Christians. They seem to be afraid of the drug cartels and muslims. It must be a liberal thing.

      Report Post »  
  • EqualJustice
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 9:26am

    Sounds like the same policy we have…

    Report Post » EqualJustice  
    • lukerw
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 9:49am

      One of the Seven Stages of Grief!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Meyvn
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 10:58am

      At least in Mexico it’s just “shut up”. The media in America are so afraid they lie out loud for the criminals.

      Report Post » Meyvn  
  • moussiagilda
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 8:49am

    Drug cartels, drug addicts, you’re living in hell. The rest of us are living in sanity.

    An author everybody has to read, if you please: Byron Katie. Got a copy of one of her books, Loving What Is, for 89 cents in Janesville.

    Report Post »  
  • cloudsofwar
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:06am

    the mexican gov know who the drug cartels are, who runs them. the gov should go and kill them all, no trial, no jail, no mercy. but then the gov would lose the payoff money.

    Report Post »  
    • rangerp
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:24am

      send the huffpo folks down their to report, or perhaps CNN and MSNBC

      Report Post » rangerp  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 10:58am

      RANGERP…and ABC, NBC, CBS, and heck why not CSPAN and especially NPR.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
  • AJAYW
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:04am

    Yea – shut up or we will use the guns our buddy holder gave us on you.

    Report Post »  
  • TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:00am

    Hmmmmm…. a thought to ponder.

    Like it or Not: Mexico is America’s Next Afghanistan http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2010/12/12/like-it-or-not-mexico-is-americas-next-afghanistan/ via @laborunionrpt

    Report Post » TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:02am

      Some recent events really have me wondering if Fast And Furious has actually shipped far more weapons to the Cartels than we know of so far, or if it is feint that has been made obvious to divert attention from actually larger shipments of weapons to them. The possible expected return is to have more Mexican citizens to rush over the border as political refugees…who are expected to become eventual voters.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:42pm

      RJJIN. I wouldn’t put anything past Obama, Holder and the rest of his cartel.

      Report Post » TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12  
  • poweruser19
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:34am

    I think the government could ballance the budget if they started taxing the drugs when they come into the country,then make laws for consuming them in the workplace even strickter than now.
    Most people that have good values and morals will not do drugs just becuse they are legal,we will however see a true line form in the public of the “makers and the takers” of money. those who do drugs and those who do not.We could make crimes commited wile on drugs much more strickt.
    Then it would be a moral choice and everyone would be happy.Except the people that still wish to break the laws……….

    Report Post »  
    • cykonas
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 6:22am

      Great idea! More laws, more regulations, and more taxes! Man I love being free!

      Sorry, no thanks partner.

      Report Post » cykonas  
    • Obama_Sham
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 6:47am

      “Then it would be a moral choice”

      Ok… Here’s a little hint… IT ALREADY IS A MORAL CHOICE…

      Report Post » Obama_Sham  
    • 9111315
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:27am

      The government could balance the budget by not feeding the people who use the drugs.

      Report Post »  
    • devildogger
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 10:43pm

      Really, just shut up. You have done more damage to yourself than anyone could possibly do.

      Report Post »  
  • TH30PH1LUS
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:17am

    Obama “… that fence is now basically complete.”

    Janet Napolitano “The border is better now than it ever has been.”

    Americans are being murdered in Mexico http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Number-of-Americans-killed-in-Mexico-continues-to-3518659.php

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45780933/ns/world_news-americas/t/us-mom-daughters-killed-mexico-attacks/

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/24/us-mexico-dead-idUSTRE7BN03C20111224

    Americans are being killed on AMERICAN SOIL by illegal aliens http://www.wnd.com/2006/11/39031/

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1793891/posts

    Report Post » TH30PH1LUS  
  • sasquatch08
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:09am

    This isn’t a new tactic. It’s used to be called “plata o plomo” (silver or lead) now it’s “silencio o plomo” (silence or lead). It’s gotten worse… at least they used to pay you to look the other way.

    I don’t see how this is shocking to anyone.

    Report Post »  
    • Obama_Sham
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 6:48am

      Mexico has to have a military… Or, is the Mexican military part of the problem?

      Report Post » Obama_Sham  
  • rsanchez1
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:01am

    And here we have Eric Holder letting weapons flow across the border with his full support. What a disaster.

    Report Post »  
    • sasquatch08
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:11am

      The war on drugs has been a disaster for two decades. Google “prohibition”.

      Report Post »  
    • Obama_Sham
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 6:50am

      I love how people keep referencing prohibition when wanting to legalize drugs… Any who, the war on drugs, to date, has failed miserably… However, full legalization of drugs is not the answer either…

      Report Post » Obama_Sham  
    • cloudsofwar
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 7:02am

      the mexican gov should file charges against Holder for providing weapons to the drug cartels.

      Report Post »  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:08am

      CLOUDSOFWAR, Arming those who fight the Mexican government is an act of war. Mexico should take Holder to The Hague.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:35pm

      Obama_Sham
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 6:50am

      I love how people keep referencing prohibition when wanting to legalize drugs… Any who, the war on drugs, to date, has failed miserably… However, full legalization of drugs is not the answer either…
      ==================================

      Treat it like we do red wine and Budweiser today……..

      Problem solved…

      Report Post »  
  • ltemp
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 3:01am

    The Hollywood movies, actors and music entertainers glorify drugs and laugh at people who try to warn our people of the devastation and destruction it does to the American families while our own media hide the truth of the real terror across the boarder. Where are the movies that show the trail of blood that these drugs leave in the lives of the innocent? Where are the attack ads on the results of buying drugs? All those responsible, live as though there are no real consequences for their crimes against God and man. There will be a reckoning and like King Belshazzar, the handwriting is on the wall, “God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Your kingdom has been divided….”Daniel 5:26-28

    Report Post » ltemp  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:49am

    Why are all those people who want cigarettes stamped out but are busy promoting pot? Competition? It would make one think pot smoke is harmless, whereas cigarette smoke causes problems? Does that make sense? I thought not. They are all nuts.

    Report Post » blackyb  
    • jhrusky
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 10:30am

      I doubt pot smoke is good for you, but chemically, does it contain as many carcinogins as tobacco smoke does? Is it as addictive as cigarettes are? I don’t believe so. Does it lead to harder drugs as has been claimed? I don’t think so.

      Speaking from past experience (hey, I grew up in the 70s!), there is no addictive tendancies so in that respect, pot is better. It does affect your mind similar to what alcohol does. The one thing I personally have against it is it seemed when high, all one wanted to do was enjoy, lay back, get into whatever one was getting into, and not really care that much about anything else. Perhaps that was just youth, I don’t know, but that part is not a good thing.

      Report Post » jhrusky  
  • mharry860
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:15am

    All they have to do is publish articles with no byline and then they won’t know whom to kill, except then maybe these animals will just kill them all. I seriously don’t get it, is Mexico a 4th world country or what?

    Report Post » mharry860  
    • blackyb
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:46am

      They would. They have killed more people in the past 2 or 3 years than is in a small city where I live.

      Report Post » blackyb  
  • RebelPatriot
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:11am

    The failure of our government to protect our southern border is treasonous at the least.

    There are only a few things that the federal government is responsible to do.

    One of those is to secure our borders from those who wish to harm the citizens of the United States.

    There is no greater danger to the citizens of the US than the problems caused due to the trafficking of illegal drugs that come from Mexico.

    We have surrendered our rights to illegal search and seizures at airports, supposedly to protect us from Islamic Radicals, all the while we allow a greater threat to the people and the Republic to come across the border at a much more dangerous rate.

    You have a greater chance of being killed by a drug addict attempting to fund his habit than a radical Muslim blowing up a plane.

    The powers that be have manipulated the lies in order to take away our freedoms and have ignored their responsibility to protect our borders in order to draw more attacks against it’s citizens and place the Republic in more danger than all the wars the last 16 years.

    Over the last 16 years more citizens have died along the border due to illegals than all the soldiers who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    But yet our government strip searches citizens at airports and allows the drug cartels to have free reign along the border.

    The politicians in office today aren’t attempting to save the Republic, they are attempting to destroy it.

    WAKE UP!

    Report Post »  
    • Rudeman10
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:02am

      @RebelPatriot, Very well said. Every day we Americans comply with all these regulations that are for our so called security. We have been sold out by our politicians on both sides of the aisle for their gain of power and our loss of liberty…it’s all a lie. I hope it boils to a point where we all confront them and truly push back that WE WILL NOT COMPLY! Law enforcement you’re the key who will you stand with your masters or the American people?

      Report Post » Rudeman10  
  • Bombgod1
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:04am

    Why are there still tourist areas in Mexico? Why do American youth go to Mexico to “party” at Spring Break? Why would Obama let his kid go to Mexico, with or without security? I just don’t understand the stupidity of some people. To hell with Mexico, “Remeber the Alamo”

    Report Post » Bombgod1  
    • CatB
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:32am

      Beats me … I wouldn’t go if they paid me.

      Report Post »  
    • rsanchez1
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 4:03am

      Courage is what the Mexican people lack most, with so many of them crossing the border either as immigrants or as dealers.

      Report Post »  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:28am

      RSANCHEZ1, Over the years I have sat and engaged obvious illegal immigrants from Mexico who by then spoke enough English. Of course, only after they were complaining how America and Americans were being unfair to them, and that we should do a better job of ‘taking care’ of them. After asking a few mundane questions to open their topic of discussion I usually get around to pointing out how they have let themselves become peons in their own country and flow like water in the path of least resistance. As cowards they have illegally come to our country and constantly put their hands out making themselves more of a burden and taking jobs from real Americans by working for lower wages. As soon as Cinco de Mayo enters the topic since I had mentioned cowardice, I remind them again that they are such cowards they have no longer have a right in my opinion to celebrate what they only want to call a holiday in this country. All of them get mad at me, but I keep a calm demeanor, and continue the discussion. Many eventually agree with me. Others wanted to fight. That is what they need to do in their own country.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
    • devildogger
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 10:55pm

      Colombia is a lot like Mexico, especially with regards to the drug trade. There is an area in Colombia called Baranquilla where there is less crime. Why is that? Because it is an area where wealthy people vacation and the Colombians don’t want to lose that money.

      Wall off the US Southern border and check the area along the border with ground penetrating radar. Find a tunnel, implode it. Illegals climbing the fence, shoot them. Maybe if things get bad enough the Mexican people will grow a spine and clean up their society, maybe.

      Report Post »  
  • RebelPatriot
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:01am

    Add your comments

    Report Post »  
    • marine249
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 2:08am

      no. you add your comments 1st

      Report Post »  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:18am

      MARINE249, It’s something that The Blaze has set up this site to do for some odd reason. It happened to me a while back and I responded that I actually had nothing to do with it. Shortly The Blaze removed it. I now expect with yours and my responses they will remove all of this soon.

      Report Post » RJJinGadsden  
  • TSUNAMI-22
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:42am

    Irony? In America we have journalists hiding lies and we die because of it. In Mexico they have journalists that expose the truth and die because of it.

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:20am

      I was thinking the same thing .. I wish we had more here … with the guts to print the truth .. no matter where it falls. They are few and far between .. the only good thing is that they don‘t seem to be even trying to hide their agenda’s anymore.

      Report Post »  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:41am

    That is a war zone just to the South of the U.S. and the leaders in Mexico and their families need to be safe (as do all their citizens) and get the help of the United States to stop this. People are dying down there. It is not going to get better. How can it? They are holding Mexico hostage. Get Obama out and if we must stop violence in Mexico if they will work with us as we need somehow to help our neighbors to the South. If they could stabalize the thuggery in Mexico and they may could enable their own citizens to produce instead of trying to run across the border and drain this country financially. Mexico does not seem to have a country any more, but is being taken over by a hopeless evil. They better know that they may need to join some kind of alliance with the United States to help them, but on the other hand, we should not allow the violence to continue at our borders and come into this country any more than it has. It needs to be tended to before it seeps more than it has into this country than it has. These people will not stop until they have total control of Mexico to the point they will be worse than the Middle East.

    Report Post » blackyb  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:10am

      We declared was on islam terrorists; we can declare war on the drug cartel terrorists. Such an action would actually benefit our country, since the drug cartels have declared a defacto war on us.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
    • Salamander
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 3:33am

      Gee, I have a capital idea! Why not STOP SUPPORTING CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS? Every time someone sucks on a marijuana joint or snuffs a little of that white powder or uses crack, they SUPPORT THE CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE! If you want to indulge in such crap, get it on the ballot and make it legal–OTHERWISE, STOP SUPPORTING THE CRIMINALS! Duh!

      Report Post »  
  • godhatesacoward
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:40am

    Where you at douche bag aka obama ?

    Report Post » godhatesacoward  
  • kiwi1
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:39am

    Sound Familiar…….”the groups even had a media relations team, who actually e-mailed editors entire stories for them to publish”
    Like our Main Stream Media Coverage of the Obama Administration.

    Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:36am

    well, we know there arent any journalists in the US that have a backbone

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • blackyb
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:33am

    Their next step will be to buy up the media and put their own people in charge in Mexico. They will then call the elections of Presidents and everyday life in Mexico. Much like, without the violence, here in the U.S.A. media is catering to the left and causing lies and deceit of the people. This better be stopped here because the public is being fooled by the leftist media is doing a job on the public here in this country.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • KeystoneState
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:33am

    So how’s that war on drugs working out for ya?

    Report Post » KeystoneState  
    • blackyb
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:43am

      It is better than having no war on drugs. We have enough dopes in California who are sinking the freaking state with their loose drug laws and their not being motivated to do anything but blow pot. People are moving out of there in drives. How is that working for youf?

      Report Post » blackyb  
    • objectivetruth
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:22am

      The war on drugs is workingout like prohibition did with booze.Save for one little thing.We still had a populace that had common sense and wern‘t afraid to change laws that didn’t work.They still had enough common sense to realize pouring money down a rat hole was stupid.They weren‘t worried about every police depts budget getting funded to support those laws that didn’t work.They still had common sense enough ,to know ,that a substance that produced far more revenue ,was better than the endless money pit of fighting a losing battle.They realized that by legalizing it they could gain regulation and profit.Damn just Damn we still had true capitalism and a sense of moral compass to boot.At least our elders realized that in order to regulate it you would have to legalize it.Then again our elders had a backbone and didn’t want it both ways.They accepted reality the way it is.Not the way they would have wished it to be.

      Report Post »  
  • soybomb315
    Posted on May 25, 2012 at 12:30am

    let us not forget why these drugs are so busy crossing borders – USA uses more drugs than any other country in the world

    Report Post » soybomb315  
    • Mark0331
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 1:05am

      Hell,we’ve had our differences, in philosopy….when in doubt listen to Allman Brothers…Mountain Jam…good times..Yes,… We inquire, so to speak….regarding ye olde topics…but you know this man..tax the basic endeavor knowing prohibition never works…..a smile and a grin, Even good old boys know the grass is always greener , or maybe better,….agree to disagree., or smile and think,which is what you do…I think..;-)..hope all is good and kind ..NOBO 12

      Report Post » Mark0331  
    • devildogger
      Posted on May 25, 2012 at 11:03pm

      And why do you think that is, soybomb?

      Report Post »  

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