Mexico

On March 28, 2009, several gunshots were fired at the home of Juan Antonio Zavala Hernández, publisher of the weekly newspaper Mi Ciudad in the town of Romita in central Guanajuato state, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. There were no injuries, the journalist told CPJ. Zavala, who said he has been repeatedly threatened by the local mayor, said he believes the attack was in...

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has censured the setback for press freedom and free speech in Mexico contained in new proposals made public by the federal Chamber of Deputies' Judicial Committee, chaired by Congressman César Camacho. According to the committee's bill shown to representatives of the IAPA recently, work carried out for years by the Chamber of Deputies' Special Commission...

Mexican radio reporter Luis Daniel Méndez Hernández’s was murdered on February 23 while he was attending the carnival in Huayacocotla, in the southeastern state of Veracruz. The correspondent of “Enlaces Noticias,” a news programme broadcast on several frequencies by the Radiorama Tuxpan news agency, Méndez was shot four times in the back, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “There are...

An independent female journalist probing a child sexual abuse case was recently harassed and assaulted by youths in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, according to delayed reports. On January 29, a group of five or six youths harassed and assaulted independent journalist Verónica Villalvazo, who works under the pseudonym of "Frida Guerrera". At the time of the incident, Villalvazo was walking near the...

A gunman killed a photographer and injured a reporter in the southern Mexican city of Iguala, Guerrero state on Friday last, according to international news reports. Photographer Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez, 33, from the newspaper El Correo was shot three times and died at the scene. Reporter Yenny Yuliana Marchán Arroyo, 22, from the daily newspaper Diario 21 was hit three times in the legs and is...

On two occasions, police officers in Tijuana, Baja California, northwestern Mexico, have raided the offices of the local weekly Balún Canán without a search warrant and have threatened and assaulted reporters, ARTICLE 19 and the Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (CENCOS) have reported. In an interview, Juan Alfonso Ojeda, the editor and founder of Balún Canán, told CENCOS and ARTICLE 19 that...

This year could be the deadliest one yet for journalists. A wave of killings in the first days of the new year have undermined hopes that the falling death toll recorded in 2008 was the first sign of a change in the pattern of killings which have risen dramatically in recent years. "The welcome relief brought about by the decline in the killings of journalists in 2008 has been shot lived," said

Miguel Badillo Cruz, editor of Contralínea and Fortuna magazines, was arrested by police near his home in Mexico City on the morning of January 16, the Centro de Periodismo y Etica Publica (CEPET) has reported. The editor has been charged with "insult to authorities" (desacato) by a judge in Jalisco state. He is currently under "administrative arrest", having apparently been detained on a warrant...

The mayor and local police of the town of San Pedro Jicayán, in the state of Oaxaca, burnt 1,000 copies of a newspaper and detained a newspaper vendor for several hours on January 11. The newspaper Noticias Voz e Imagen had published information that reflected poorly on the administration of Mayor Leonardo Silva Palacios, the Centro de Periodismo y Etica Publica (CEPET) has reported. While on his...

Masked gunmen in the Mexican city of Monterrey opened fire and tossed a grenade at the Televisa network's studio as it aired a nightly newscast. The assailants left behind a message warning the station about its coverage of drug gangs. During a live broadcast at 8:35 p.m. on Tuesday night, at least five masked gunmen riding in two pickup trucks fired high-caliber weapons and tossed a grenade...