Mexico / Americas

Speaking Out in Guatemala and l SalvadorBy Marylene SmeetsLast April, a mysterious program called “Hoy por Hoy” (“Right Now”) appeared on Guatemalan radio. The format consisted of gossip and political chitchat, and the hosts seemed to have it in for journalists. One of them often described Dina Fern‡ndez, a columnist and editor at Guatemala’s biggest…

While the Mexican press started covering local politics with greater confidence and independence, the drug trade was still an extremely dangerous assignment. As in past years, the government made little progress investigating attacks when they did occur. 1999 saw the first-ever primary election within the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated Mexican politics since…

New York, Feb. 28, 2000–Federal agents in Yuma, Arizona, have arrested two brothers charged in the 1997 murder of Mexican newspaper publisher Benjamín Flores González. According to The Arizona Daily Star, Ismael and Gabriel González Gutiérrez were arrested on drug trafficking charges on February 24, following their indictment in Phoenix on February 9. The murder…

Nueva York, 28 de febrero de 2000 – Agentes federales en Yuma, Arizona, arrestaron a dos hermanos acusados en el asesinato en 1997 de Benjamín Flores González, editor del periódico mexicano La Prensa. Según The Arizona Daily Star, Ismael y Gabriel González Gutiérrez fueron arrestados por acusaciones de narcotráfico el 24 de febrero, después de…

Guatemala and El Salvador have both emerged from bloody civil wars fought between conservative central governments and leftist insurgents. And in both countries, the press is beginning to show signs of independence.

Dear colleagues and friends, I turn to you once more to request your intervention or at least inform you of the latest events regarding the difficult situation we at the weekly newsmagazine Pulso,of which I am editor, are going through.

July 8, 1999 — CPJ is concerned about the safety of Jesús Barraza, editor of the weekly Pulsoin San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora State, Mexico. As mentioned in CPJ’s May 13 and June 14 letters to President Ernesto Zedillo, Barraza has received several death in recent months because of his reporting on the local narcotics…

July 8, 1999 — El CPJ está profundamente preocupado por la seguridad física de Jesús Barraza, director del semanario Pulso en la población de San Luis Río Colorado, estado de Sonora, México. Tal como dijimos en las cartas al presidente Ernesto Zedillo del 13 de mayo y 14 de junio, Barraza ha recibido varias amenazas…

Los Angeles Time Editorial Jesus Barraza has good reason to fear for his life. He is a crusading journalist in the small town of San Luis Rio Colorado in Mexico, just a few miles from Yuma, Ariz., and home to a criminal ring that transports drugs and people to the United States and returns to…

June 14,1999 Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León President of Mexico Los Pinos Mexico City, MEXICO Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its growing concern for the safety of Jesús Barraza, editor of the weekly magazine  Pulso in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. As we stated in the letter sent…