MEXICO CITY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A Mexican governor refused to resign on Wednesday in a scandal over taped conversations in which he and a business magnate appear to discuss jailing and intimidating a journalist for writing a damaging book.
Gov. Mario Marin of Puebla state told a news conference the audio tapes implicating him in a plot against Cancun journalist Lydia Cacho were false.
“There is not the least reason to resign, and much less so when it has to do with a series of lies and falsehoods committed by Lydia Cacho,” he said.
Left anonymously this week at the doorsteps of local media, the obscenity-laced audio tapes have brought controversy over Cacho’s case to a boiling point.
The fallout may have an impact on the presidential campaign. Marin is an ally of Roberto Madrazo, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, presidential candidate who is trailing in polls ahead of July elections.
Cacho was charged with defamation in December for linking Puebla businessman Kamel Nacif to a child prostitution ring in her book, “The Demons of Eden.” She was held briefly and released on bail.
Rights groups say the arrest reflected manipulation of justice and intimidation of the press in Mexico by Nacif and other special interests.
“This is just the latest in a troubling pattern of human rights and labor rights violations in the state of Puebla,” said Ben Davis of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center in Mexico that has worked on labor complaints involving Nacif.
If authentic, the tapes could bear out the claim. They appear to contain conversations between Nacif and officials including Marin about jailing and intimidating Cacho, revealing a web of influence among public officials, judges and big business.
After a voice identified as that of Marin’s says Cacho has been arrested, the one believed to be Nacif promises to send the governor a bottle of cognac, then two bottles.
At one point the speakers discuss how to have Cacho raped in jail. “I will drive her crazy until the lady asks for peace,” says one.
Madrazo has rejected the idea that Marin was involved in a plot. Candidate Felipe Calderon from Fox’s National Action Party urged prosecution of any wrongdoing, “no matter if it’s a governor or a powerful businessman.”
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-wing front-runner, called for Marin’s resignation after the recordings surfaced.
