President Vicente Fox’s historic election in 2000 marked the end of the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party’s (PRI) domination of the country and its media. But the honeymoon between the president and the media ended in 2001 with increasingly critical coverage that reflected the public’s frustration with the slow pace of reforms under the new government.
Dear Mr. Ramírez Acuña: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the investigation into the 1998 murder of American journalist Philip True and the prosecution of the two suspects accused of this crime. On August 3, Colotlán municipal judge José Luis Reyes Contreras acquitted Juan Chivarra de la Cruz and his brother-in-law Miguel Hernández de la Cruz, who had been accused of murdering True. The Jalisco State attorney general’s office appealed the acquittals in a September 25 hearing before a panel of three judges from the State Supreme Court of Justice. A ruling on the appeal is expected soon.
New York, August 9, 2001—On August 3, a Mexican judge acquitted the two men accused in the 1998 murder of American journalist Philip True. Juan Chivarra de la Cruz and his brother-in-law Miguel Hernández de la Cruz were charged with True’s murder in December 1998. Municipal Judge José Luis Reyes Contreras ordered their release despite…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, is writing to protest criminal defamation charges filed against Carolina Pavón, a reporter with the Mexico City daily REFORMA, and Alejandro Junco de la Vega, president and publisher of the paper.
Su Excelencia: El Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas (CPJ), una organización no partidista dedicada a la defensa de la libertad de prensa en todo el mundo, le escribe para protestar por los cargos penales por difamación presentados contra Carolina Pavón, una reportera del diario de Ciudad de México REFORMA, y Alejandro Junco de la Vega, presidente y propietario del diario.
New York, March 27, 2001 — CPJ is deeply concerned about the recent murder of Saúl Antonio Martínez Gutiérrez, deputy editor of the daily El Imparcial, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State. CPJ is investigating the murder to determine whether Martínez Gutiérrez was killed because of his professional work. At around 4:30 p.m. on March 24,…
IN A WATERSHED YEAR FOR MEXICAN DEMOCRACY, the dissolution of ties between much of the media and the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) helped foster a more professional and competitive press in 2000. The election of National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vicente Fox to the presidency on July 2 ended the PRI’s 71-year hold on…
New York, March 12, 2001—In a recent letter to Arturo González Rascón, Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua, CPJ expressed its concern about the murder of José Luis Ortega Mata, the editor of the weekly Semanario de Ojinaga, based in Ojinaga, Chihuahua State. Ortega Mata, 37, was shot twice in the head at close…
New York, October 6, 2000 — Former Ciudad Juárez police commissioner Javier Benavides González announced earlier this week that he has dropped the criminal-defamation suit he had filed against editor Jesús Antonio Pinedo Cornejo and reporter Luis Villagrana of the weekly Semanario.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in MEXICO New York, October 2, 2000 — CPJ has written to the attorney general of Chihuahua State to inquire about the prosecution of journalists Jesús Antonio Pinedo Cornejo and Luis Villagrana on criminal-defamation charges. Pinedo Cornejo edits the weekly Semanario, based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua…