Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jun 2009
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Linda Diebel

THE MAN WHO OUTRAN DRUG ASSASSINS

Mexican Reporter Took Cop's Warning Seriously, Left Town Shortly 
Before Colleague Gunned Down

SURREY, B.C. - Bang-bang. You're dead.

That's not exactly how the cop warned crime reporter Luis Najera in 
the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez that he could be 
assassinated, but that was the intent.

The officer was a good contact and, one day last September, he 
casually brushed past Najera in the street as if he didn't see him, 
flicked out his hand and whispered: "Aguas!"

He didn't even say it, really; it was more a rush of air. The word 
means "waters," but in Mexican slang, it's "Be careful!" Najera, 38, 
who wrote about drug trafficking, knew he was getting one last chance 
to run for his life.

He hurried home, packed three suitcases with five changes of clothes 
and, with his wife and three children, 17, 8 and 2, fled for their 
lives to Vancouver.

He arrived on Sept. 27 to a city he'd never visited, in a country he 
didn't know, to claim refugee status and begin the battle to stay in Canada.

On Nov. 13, 2008, his colleague Armando Rodriguez, 40, from El Diario 
de Juarez, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. They blasted his 
body with eight bullets in front of his home as he prepared to drive 
his daughter to school in Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, 
Tex. He died at the scene; she was not physically injured.

Rodriguez was among eight journalists gunned down last year in 
Mexico, according to Reporters Without Borders, their deaths 
attributed to the drug cartels.

"This crime specialist was on the front lines of this savage conflict 
which has made Mexico one of the most dangerous countries in the 
world for journalists," said a press release from the international agency.

Najera grieved for his friend, while knowing it could have been him. 
Rodriguez ignored personal death threats, as well as the bloody head 
placed last year on the Journalist's Memorial in Juarez - a message 
to all. Before his murder, he wrote about two police officers 
believed executed by narco-gunmen, among 1,300 to die in Juarez drug 
wars in 2008.

Najera ultimately decided he could no longer put the lives of his 
family at risk, not in a vicious new age of narco-vendettas that 
reach out to innocent family members. The days of the unchallenged 
power of the Juarez Cartel are fading.

"I knew there wouldn't be another warning," said Najera, intense, 
with a thin, worried face, wearing glasses that slip down his nose.

"This was different. Yes, I feared for my life, but when my wife 
noticed she was being followed, I knew I was victimizing my family. 
We were at the point we wouldn't let our kids out to do anything - it 
was always "No.'"

He lives in virtual hiding and was nervous about the exclusive 
interview with the Toronto Star. Arranged by an intermediary in 
Mexico, it took place discreetly in our hotel in Surrey, 30 
kilometres from Vancouver. He didn't disclose where he lives, the 
names of his wife and children or the church that is helping him 
during a process that could take two years or more - and still turn out badly.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Immigration and Refugee Board of 
Canada declined to comment on an ongoing case.

Najera says flatly he'll be killed if he returns to Mexico.

He'd always dreamed about journalism - and basketball. Born in the 
central city of Guadalajara, he studied journalism at university and 
worked as a sports and general reporter before spending five years 
with the attorney-general's office in the state of Chihuahua, where 
Juarez is located. As press officer, he handled police matters and 
made vital contacts for his later reporting on cartels and corruption.

"Some police thought I was a traitor, others didn't," he said of his 
career change. One saved his life.

He had insider information. Working back and forth across the 
Mexico-U.S. border, he saw patterns of power and made connections 
that made people nervous. In his view: "The police are involved with 
the narcos and the government is passive."

The last thing drug lords and their supporters want is attention. 
Najera broke a story about the existence of a series of mass graves 
found by police, quoting one officer: "Maybe there are more. Maybe 
they are in every neighbourhood in this city."

Warnings prepared him. He'd had discussions with his wife, sold his 
Jeep Cherokee and gathered important documents - including his 
coverage of the cartels - he would need for refugee board hearings. 
He had always liked Canada from afar and chose Vancouver because he 
knew a Mexican lawyer there. After the final tip, he left his house, 
knowing he would lose it along with a career he cherished.

Now he can only wait.

His English is good and improving and, if he can't be a journalist, 
he'd like to make a career as a researcher in the field he knows, 
perhaps joining a think-tank with a specialty in narco-trafficking.

"Once you are a reporter, it's how you see the world," said Najera. 
"You think, 'What can I do for society? What can I do to make a 
better life for people?' It's the truth .. it's how I see things."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom