Mexico: Another blogger murdered and decapitated

English PEN was horrified to learn of the death of yet another blogger, known as ‘Rascatripas‘, who was murdered and decapitated by a Mexican drugs gang for writing about their crimes. We are calling on the Mexican authorities to bring the guilty to justice and bring to an end to the impunity that exists for those who attack and kill journalists and writers in Mexico.

According to our information, on 9 November 2011, the body of blogger ‘Rascatripas’ was found bound and decapitated in Nuevo Laredo. A message was left with the corpse which said: ‘This happened to me because I didn’t understand that I shouldn’t report on the internet.’ ‘Rascatripas’ was the moderator for a web site that denounced Nuevo Laredo’s organised crime.

The murder of ‘Rascatripas’ follows the September killing of another blogger and journalist from Nuevo Laredo, María Elizabeth Macías Castro, who was found dead and decapitated on 24 September 2011. Her killers also left a note with her body. The message was similar to that left beside ‘Rascatripas’, but was signed with a ‘Z’, the signature of the Zetas drugs gang.

These killings form part of a worrying trend in Mexico, where the drugs gangs are increasingly targeting those who use the internet, and forcing bloggers and chat-rooms to exercise self-censorship or face being killed, or shut down.

Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to practice journalism. PEN International recently launched its Day of the Dead 2011 campaign, highlighting the violence suffered by print journalists and writers in Mexico and protesting the climate of impunity that exists there.

TAKE ACTION

Please send appeals:

- Calling on the Mexican authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the latest murder
- Calling for an end to Mexico’s climate of impunity in which attacks such as these take place;
- Calling on the government of President Felipe Calderón to fulfil promises to make crimes against journalists a federal offence, by amending the Constitution so that federal authorities have the power to investigate, prosecute and punish such crimes.

Appeals to:

Lic. Felipe De Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Fax: ( 52 55) 5093 4901/ 5277 2376
Email: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Presidente/ Dear Mr President

Attorney General
Lic. Marisela Morales Ibáñez
Procuradora General de la República
Av. Paseo de Reforma No. 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Defegacion Cuauhtémoc
México D.F. C.P. 06500
Tel: 52 55 5346 0108
Fax: 52 55 53 46 0908 (if a voice answers, ask “tono de fax, por favor”)
E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx  
Salutation: Señora Procuradora General/Dear Attorney General

Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression
Dr Gustavo Salas Chávez
Fiscal Especial para la Atención de Delitos Cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión (FEADLE)
Email: gustavo.salas@pgr.gob.mx, feadle@pgr.gob.mx

Please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in London:

Mr Miguel Jimenez
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights
16 St George Street
London
W1S 1FD
Fax: 020 7495 4035
Email: majimenez@sre.gob.mx