Good news – finally — for two Mexican journalists
The work of OPC’s Freedom of the Press Committee can seem like a hopelessly frustrating exercise at times. But last week, the reason the FoP continues to bother about making noise about colleagues in jeopardy was brought home to us by a court in Texas.
In 2008, the Committee took up the cause of two Mexican journalists who sought asylum in the United States after receiving threats on their lives. The first, Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, had been making enemies within the Mexican army for several years with his reports in El Diario del Noroeste about the involvement of soldiers in criminal activity. He’d already hear from an army major that “You should be afraid of us” when in May of 2008, soldiers raided his home (allegedly in search of drugs and weapons). He reported the event for his paper, and a month later, a friend told him the elements in the army had marked him for death. He fled with his 15-year-old son to El Paso and applied for asylum.
A few months later, Jorge Luis Aguirre, editor of the on-line newspaper La Polaka, was on his way to a murdered colleague’s funeral when he received a call on his mobile phone warning “You’re next.” He immediately followed Gutiérrez into exile in Texas. Aguirre’s supposition was that the threat came from somewhere in a local prosecutor’s office, who had been the target of reporting by La Polaka alleging corruption.
The FoP supported the asylum applications of both reporters, and last week, we had the good news that Aguirre’s petition has been granted.
Especially since the Mexican government’s declaration of “war” against the narcotic traffickers in 2006, Mexican reporters have found themselves covering one of the most dangerous beats in the world. According to Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights, since 2000, a total of 65 journalists in Mexico have been killed in violence. If those numbers are correct, the country is now the deadliest in which to practice journalism.
Carlos Spector, an El Paso attorney handling the Gutiérrez case, suggests that the decision in favor of Aguirre may signal good news for other threatened Mexican reporters seeking asylum in the United States. “What has changed is the situation in Mexico,” Spector told the Associated Press, “where it’s now impossible to deny reality.” The decision in favor of Aguirre, he suggested, “is an indication that the asylum office is now listening.”
The work of the FoP, arguing with prosecutors and heads of state on behalf of abused journalists around the world, doesn’t often bring such concrete results. But it does so often enough that it confirms the necessity of what we do.
Since the last board meeting the Committee has been active on several fronts, including not only Mexico (again) but:
Afghanistan, where NATO coalition forces arrested three Afghanistan journalists and charged them with collaborating with the Taliban. The trio was subsequently released.
Argentina, where President Cristina Fernandez de Kirschner has been campaigning against the newspapers, Clarín and La Nación, for their unfavorable coverage of his government.
Pakistan, where the Committee joined local journalists and media associations in deploring the actions taken in Pakistan to shut down TV stations and newspapers that had reported on your (Pakistan’s president) embarrassing encounter in Birmingham.
South Africa, where legislation now before parliament proposes restrictions on press freedom unprecedented since the days of apartheid.
Ukraine, where the level of harassment, attacks and violence on the working press in Ukraine seems to be escalating to a new and dangerous level.
The Committee, as it does every month, asks the board and the Club’s members for active help in its work.
Respectfully submitted by: Kevin McDermott