Pubdate: Thu, 11 Aug 2005
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Susana Hayward, Knight Ridder News Service

HIT BY DRUG VIOLENCE, PAPERS QUIT PROBING

Major Newspapers Along The Northern Border Of Mexico Have Stopped 
Investigating Drug Wars Because Their Reporters Have Been Killed, Kidnapped 
Or Threatened

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - A drug war is ripping apart northern Mexico, but you 
won't find many details about who's behind it in the local newspapers. 
Journalists -- after their colleagues have been killed, kidnapped and 
threatened with death -- have stopped investigating organized crime.

"It's the new trend of drug gangs: Journalists are warned, paid off or 
killed," said Daniel Rosas, the managing editor of the daily El Manana, the 
oldest newspaper in the border city south of Laredo, Texas. "Drug battles 
have become bloodier, and gangs have no code of ethics. They don't respect 
human life; why should they respect reporters?"

El Manana, founded in 1932 with a motto to promote freedom of expression, 
has been censoring itself since its editor, Roberto Javier Mora Garcia, was 
stabbed to death on March 19, 2004.

Earlier this year, a former El Manana reporter, Dolores Guadalupe Garcia 
Escamilla, died after being shot outside a radio station. She had gone to 
work for the station and had named officials allegedly involved in the drug 
trade before she was killed.

El Manana now reports only official news, its editors said. Other major 
newspapers along the northern frontier followed suit after their reporters 
were killed, kidnapped or threatened. They said corruption, impunity and 
lack of police support made it almost impossible for journalists to 
research rampant violence accurately.

That means they aren't following up on the 173 people who have disappeared 
since last fall throughout the state of Tamaulipas, deemed by journalism 
organizations as the most dangerous place for reporters to work in Mexico. 
Twenty-three others who are missing are Americans from Texas.

There have been at least 108 execution-style killings since January.

"We still inform the community of what's happening but are more careful of 
what we say. It's a painful decision. We are hostages to self-censorship, 
and it's worse than censorship," said El Manana's publisher, Ramon Cantu 
Deandar.

Cantu, 39, has grown cynical about covering organized crime in this city of 
nearly half a million people.

"What's the point of investigating? We can't win. Drug mafias have billions 
and billions of dollars. They own this city. They buy police, government 
officials, investigators, you name it," he said.

In the past 18 months, six journalists have been killed along the border: 
four in 2004 and two in 2005. Two other journalists have been killed 
elsewhere in Mexico.

Their editors regarded the six as hard-core investigators of the prolific 
violence that erupted in 2003, when the leader of the Gulf cartel, Osiel 
Cardenas, was jailed, sparking a battle for control of Nuevo Laredo, the 
largest land port to the United States and the crucial crossing point to 
Interstate 35, which runs north across the United States to Canada.

"We're completely alone in this business. We don't trust any state or 
federal authorities, and crime keeps on growing. It's more visible, and 
there's seldom any punishment," said Jorge Morales, the editor of El 
Imparcial, in the Sonora state capital of Hermosillo, south of Arizona.

Mexican and U.S. officials agree the violence stems from efforts by gangs 
loyal to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman -- a fugitive drug trafficker based in 
the state of Sinaloa -- to seize control of Nuevo Laredo from the jailed 
Cardenas' Gulf cartel, which had controlled the region for years.
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MAP posted-by: Beth