Mexico: Calderon to support federalisation of anti-press crimes

Please see below news of the Mexican government’s stated commitment to making attacks on journalists a federal crime and also to implementing a security programme for at-risk journalists in Mexico. While it remains to be seen when and how these measures are implemented, these are positive steps and ones that we have been calling for over the past two years. Many thanks to all of you who have written to the Mexican government so far and let’s keep the pressure up!

If you would like to write to President Calderón welcoming this development and urging him to fulfill his commitment to implementing the federalization of crimes against journalists and a security programme for at-risk journalists as a matter of urgency, and to commit to a time-frame for doing so, you can do so using the following contact details:

President
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

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

Embassy of Mexico to the United Kingdom
16 St George Street
London
W1S 1FD
Fax: ( 44) 20 7495 4035

You can also send your letter to the Embassy in London online by clicking here.

Calderón to support federalization of anti-press crimes (CPJ)

Mexico City, September 22, 2010

Calling the right to free expression a priority of his government, Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa pledged today to push for legislation that would make attacks on journalists a federal crime. In a lengthy meeting with a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Inter American Press Association, the president also said federal authorities will soon implement a program to provide security to at-risk journalists, one modeled after a successful effort in Colombia.

“We categorically reject any attack against journalists because this is an assault against democratic society,” Calderon said. “It pains me that Mexico is seen as one of the most dangerous places for the profession.”

The president promised to work for passage of federal legislation that would make attacks against free expression a federal crime. In 2008, the president proposed a Constitutional amendment that included federalization of anti-press crimes, among other things, but the measure stalled in Congress.

Calderon also announced the arrest of a suspect in the 2008 murder of prominent Ciudad Juarez reporter Armando Rodríguez Carreón, a killing that shook the Mexican press corps. Attorney General Arturo Chávez Chávez said later that the suspect and his accomplices had been motivated by Rodriguez’s coverage of drug trafficking.
 
“President Calderon showed his deep commitment to press freedom issues by spending an hour and half with our delegation openly discussing the challenges and pledging a robust response,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “We commit to doing our part to ensure that Mexican journalists can work freely and safely in the face of this perilous environment.”

IAPA Vice President Gonzalo Marroquin added: “We came to Mexico with the intention of expressing solidarity with the government, with the people of Mexico, and with journalists and media in this country. We want to build a common front against violence and thereby protect the fundamental right of citizens to be informed.”   

Drug-fueled crime, violence, and corruption have devastated the country’s press corps and destroyed citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and access to information, CPJ found in September 8 special report, Silence or Death in Mexico’s Press. More than 30 journalists have been killed or have disappeared in Mexico in the last four years alone, CPJ research shows, a number that rivals war-wracked countries such as Iraq and Somalia. These cases have gone almost entirely unsolved, a product not only of negligence and incompetence but of deep-seated corruption among law enforcement officials, particularly at the state and local levels, CPJ found.

CPJ and IAPA have long advocated federal intervention to address the crisis. In its report, CPJ called on Congress and the president to adopt sweeping reforms that would make crimes against free expression part of the federal penal code, assign to federal authorities the responsible for investigating and prosecuting all attacks on the press, and establish accountability at senior levels of the national government.

Today’s meeting, in the presidential office in Los Pinos, included Attorney General Chávez and Minister of Interior José Francisco Blake. The CPJ delegation consisted of Simon, board member María Teresa Ronderos, Senior Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría, and Mexico representative Mike O’Connor. The IAPA delegation, led by Marroquín, included Executive Director Julio Munoz and Press Institute Director Ricardo Trotti.    

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.