Mexico / Americas

New York, September 1, 2004—A Mexican columnist who wrote about government corruption and crime was beaten to death yesterday in the city of Matamoros, near the United States border. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the murder was tied to his reporting. Francisco Arratia Saldierna, 55, wrote a column called “Portavoz” (Spokesman) that…

New York, August 23, 2004–Mexican Federal authorities have taken over the investigation into the murder of journalist Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco after finding evidence that the killing is linked to organized crime.

Under Haiti’s new transitional government, journalists-especially those who supported former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide-remain at risk in a politically polarized environment. By Carlos Lauria and Jean-Roland Chery Nearly five months after the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, journalists in Haiti still confront great dangers in a country marked by lawlessness. Before the unrest began in…

Dear Mr. Elorduy Walther: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide, condemns the murder of Mexican journalist Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, who was killed yesterday in the border city of Tijuana, in Baja California state.

Criminal defamation cases and news documented by CPJ

Dear Mr. Salazar Mendiguchía: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide, condemns Chiapas’ recent enactment of penal code reforms that impose severe criminal penalties for defamation.

New York, April 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the ruling by a Mexican appeals court sentencing the two men accused of murdering U.S. journalist Philip True in December 1998 to 20 years in prison. On Tuesday, April 27, a three-judge panel of the Jalisco State Supreme Court convicted two Huichol Indians, Juan…

New York, March 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, governor of the State of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico, inquiring about the investigation into the murder of Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial director for the Nuevo Laredo­based daily El Mañana. Mora, 42, was stabbed to death on…

While violence and repression against the press continued unabated and even increased in some countries, public trust in journalists and the press suffered in much of the Americas, jeopardizing support for reforms of archaic press laws and opening the door for governments to take a more confrontational approach with the media.