richmx2
Mar 13, 2010, 12:53 AM
Post #12 of 43
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Re: [Reefhound] News blackout around Reynosa imposed by drug cártels
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A small matter, but as one who follows the information on missing and killed reporters very, very closely, I can't say I ever have heard of a reporter losing his or her head. A bullet in the head and a shallow grave for some, but no head chopping. More common is being shot down in front of one's home or office.
At any rate, what's not getting across is that the narcos are NOT the only ones bumping off reporters. The so-called "drug war" has meant both a militarization of law enforcement, and a tolerance for curtailed civil liberties.
Federal Police and Army units have threatened reporters on several occasions. In Cuilacan police beat up a news photographer, put a gun to his head and then surrounded el Debate office with armed officers because they didn't like the way the newspaper was reporting their stories. And, if you follow the reports from the Committee to Protect Journalists (or even the somewhat compromised Journalists Without Borders -- originally funded by the U.S. Government and anti-Castro Cuban groups, it's suspected of just furthering U.S. political interests) you'd notice that a good percentage (perhaps more than half) of the journalist disappearances, and the majority of harassments in Mexico itself, have nothing to do with narcotics, and much more to do with perceived threats by local economic or political powers.
One reason media people say the "War on Drugs" is a disaster is that they see it as a War on Civil Liberties... and on freedom of the press.
Yeah, local economic powers in the U.S. and Canada and other wealthy countries don't often bump off reporters, but it a lot of ways, it's not all that different from the same things that prevent journalists in the U.S. from reporting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I hadn't thought of it before, but -- without going into the details -- I had an interesting conversation with a foreign gangster (from one of the wealthy countries) not too long ago. As a loan shark and drug dealer, he thought his Mexican gangster brethren rather foolish for resorting to murder. Of course, he's in the business of extracting money, and dead men pay no bills.
I realized that here -- where journalists are paid next to nothing (and the reporters being killed, with some exceptions, have not been the high-profile nationally known people) and -- like journalists everywhere -- in a profession where money is not always a motivator stripping them of their assets isn't an option like it is for my shady acquaintance. And, in a rich country, where status and your sense of self is largely tied to your financial condition, maybe being bled for money is a more exquisite torture.
http://voiceofmexico.com
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