Dante Perez
+ FollowA Glimpse into Mexico’s Endangered Journalists
Since Mexico’s war on organized crime began in 2006, drug cartels have targeted journalists who report on drug-related crimes. Javier Arturo Valdez Cardenas, a reporter from Sinaloa, one of Mexico’s most violent states, has been presented with the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The award honors the journalistic efforts of Riodoce, a weekly journal Valdez founded in Culiacan, Sinaloa’s capital, which boldly reports on the activities of organized crime.
Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, his account sheds light not only on the lives of journalists both persecuted by criminals and forsaken by their government, but also on the struggles of a man trying to awaken his country from a state of apathy.
“When I write, I am not thinking about what my wife might think, or my editor might think, or my audience might think,” said Javier Valdez in Spanish, speaking to an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. “I am thinking of the narco standing behind me, his crosshairs on the back of my head, waiting for me to cross the line.” Fortunately, he was speaking metaphorically.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented how organized crime has terrorized Mexican journalists in recent years. Since President Calderon began his administration in 2006, 46 journalists have been murdered.
The violence is not equally distributed, however.
Both the state of Chihuahua and the state of Sinaloa suffered over 2,000 drug related deaths in 2010. However, Sinaloa’s population is actually smaller than Chihuahua’s, making crime more concentrated in Valdez’s home state, which is also where many of Mexico’s most prominent drug lords originally came from.
“On average there are about six killings per day in Culiacan,” said Valdez. “The narco has infiltrated all sectors of society, businesses, agriculture, schools, entertainment.” As a result of Riodoce’s reporting, Valdez has had firsthand experience with intimidation. “They threw two fragmentation grenades into the office,” recounted Valdez referring to the narcos. “When we met with the official charged with the investigation, he greeted us by asking: Gentlemen, how may I help you? That’s all we had to hear to realize the crime would go unpunished. Like us, this official knew the crime had been perpetrated by drug dealers.”
While the justice system in Mexico is notoriously ineffective -a recent study by the Monterrey Institute of Technology determined that 98.5% of crimes in Mexico go unpunished- Valdez explained that Mexican journalists face the additional challenge of lacking the support of the Mexican government.
Last year, during Mexico’s 52nd National Radio and Television Week, president Calderon told the media to not only cover Mexico’s problems, but also the efforts to overcome these challenges. Mexican journalists have become a political liability for the Calderon Administration as they shed light not only on the rising violence in Mexico, but also the abuses committed through Calderon’s military strategy. Attacked by both organized crime, and the military, and forsaken by a government trying to improve Mexico’s image, journalists confront Mexico’s harsh reality largely unaided.
That apathy is perhaps what is most disturbing in Valdez’s account. He paints a picture of a society which has retreated to their homes, who has surrendered the streets to crime. “Once, during an investigation, I asked a university professor to share his scholarship with me on the impact of organized crime in Mexican society,” remembers Valdez. “He refused and told me he didn’t want any trouble.” It seems in Mexico it is possible for a Javier Siciliato to mobilize 150,000 people to demand that “the government negotiate with cartels,” and yet it is impossible for Valdez to convince a single Mexican professor to contribute to basic truth-telling. It has come to this.
When asked about his prospects for the future of Mexico, Valdez chuckles sarcastically, and notes they should have asked such a question of an optimist. “But there must be some optimism left in me,” he explains, “otherwise there would be no point to my job as a journalist.” He then talked about the upcoming 2012 presidential elections, and how drug money is likely to find its way into the campaigns.
It is unclear whether Calderon’s successor –Mexico does not allow for reelection- will bring a new approach to combat organized crime, or will maintain the current trajectory. It is also unclear whether the Mexican government will strengthen freedom of speech guarantees. However, unless Mexico makes it a priority to protect its journalists, unless the Mexican people realize the value of their profession, there will be few left who refuse to remain silent.
More on Politic365
4 Responses to A Glimpse into Mexico’s Endangered Journalists
-
ThinkItThrough says:
Sure, let's do it.
Congress just decided the nutritional value in two table spoons of tomato sauce outweigh the problems caused by wrapping that sauce in copious amounts of flour, cheese, meat, and fat.
Ergo, it should also decide the social value of people "getting high," outweigh the problems caused by drug consumption .
Oh, what is that? This is about you caring about Mexicans? What? You want to legalize so that drug cartel profits plummet? But I don't understand. You want to legalize cocaine and meth? You realize drug cartels don't just traffic marijuana, right?
But that's besides the point:
In all your altruistic caring you overlooked the fact that drug cartels in Mexico don't just sell drugs for profit, they kidnap, traffic humans, force young girls into prostitution, and deal in extortion. So even if you legalized, drug cartel violence and profits are unlikely to decrease.
Oh, I see. It's not about caring about the Mexicans you say, its about economics. You want to tax drugs for social programs and such, to boost our economy. You want to take the drug cartel's monopoly on the business. Awesome. How can we put that in a bill for congress? The "Getting High U.S. Economic Plan for Prosperity." You know, that's probably what rising nations like Brazil, India and China are doing. That's gotta be their secret for economic progress, state sponsored drugs. All sarcasm aside. My next point:
If you want to get high, and the man is getting in your way, by all means go and rally, and revolt, and protest at the man keeping you from your weed. Hell, I could not care less if the one cause that motivates you politically is your right to feel good by altering your brain chemistry rather than altering anything of more consequence or social value.
But please, do not pitch an interest group's agenda as a potential solution to a complex international problem without making a minimal effort at understanding how there might be alternatives to the world's problems that do not lead you to greater marijuana access.
-
Pingback: A Glimpse into Mexico’s Endangered Journalists « Mexico Institute
-
jreedbrundage says:
If the author read the three articles regarding Javier Sicilia and the Movement for Peace with Justice that are included in his links, he would know that Sr. Sicilia does not advocate that the government "negotiate with the cartels." The articles accurately present what he and the Movement do seek.
Leave a Reply
Featured
Connect
Washington Informer
Advertisement
An appeal to all Prohibitionists:
Most of us are aware by now that individuals who use illegal drugs are going to get high, 'no matter what.' So why do you not prefer they acquire them in stores that check IDs and pay taxes? Gifting the market in narcotics to ruthless criminals, foreign terrorists and corrupt law enforcement officials is seriously compromising our future. If you remotely believe that people will one day quit using any of these 'at present' illegal drugs, then you are exhibiting a degree of naivety parallel only with those poor wretches who voluntarily drank the poisoned Kool-Aid in Jonestown.
Even if you cannot stand the thought of people using drugs, there is absolutely nothing you, or any government, can do to stop them. We have spent 40 years and over a trillion dollars on this dangerous farce. Practically everybody is now aware that Prohibition will not suddenly and miraculously start showing different results. So why do you wish to continue with it? Do you actually think you may have something to lose If we were to start basing drug policy on science & logic instead of ignorance, hate and lies?
Maybe you're a police officer, a prison guard or a local politician. Possibly you're scared of losing employment, overtime-pay, the many kick-backs and those regular fat bribes. But what good will any of that do you once our society has followed Mexico over the dystopian abyss of dismembered bodies, vats of acid and marauding thugs carrying gold-plated AK-47s with leopard-skinned gunstocks?
Kindly allow us to forgo the next level of your sycophantic prohibition-engendered mayhem.
Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!