From Consortium News
Mexico has earned the reputation of a dangerous place for journalists, a grim reality underscored by the murder last week of Miroslava Breach Velducea, a correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada from the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.
"We are shocked by the brutal killing of Miroslava Breach," said Carlos Laura, of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "This wave of violence threatens citizens' right to access vital information, and harms Mexico's democracy by limiting public debate. We urge the Mexican federal government to put an end to this violence by bringing the perpetrators of this crime to justice."
Breach was shot eight times by a heavily armed gunman as she was leaving home in her car, accompanied by one of her three children, shortly after 7 a.m., according to published reports. The child was not injured, but Breach died in transport. Breach was the third journalist to be murdered in Mexico this month, according to CPJ.
I spoke late Friday with Molly Goss, Special Correspondent for Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio, from Mexico City, as she was beginning her investigation in the murder.
Dennis Bernstein: There is a very serious situation unfolding there with the assassination of Miroslava Breach Velducea, a correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada, an important progressive newspaper coming out of Mexico City. ... Tell us about the reporter ... Tell us something about what happened here, what led up to this killing?
Molly Goss: This is a reporter named Miroslava Breach Velducea. And she had been a reporter for La Jornada, as you said, a progressive newspaper. It was founded in Mexico City in the mid 80's. She'd been a correspondent in the north of Mexico for over 20 years. And previous to that she worked for some other publications in the north of the country. She was a really important correspondent, basically reporting on the situation in the State of Chihuahua. That's where she was based. And recently she'd done a lot of really fearless reporting around the situation with the narco-trafficker, with the drug trafficking situation, particularly in the north of the country.
So, this was a really highly respected reporter, a highly respected correspondent who had done a lot of really courageous work. And, what happened, was ... on Thursday, the 23rd, she was leaving her home in Chihuahua, in the capital of the State of Chihuahua, around 7 in the morning, and I've heard different reports, but what is clear is at least one gunman, as she was taking her car out of the garage, one gunman shot about 8 times, and killed her on the scene, I believe. There's some reports of other people being seen around that area.
But, there was definitely one armed man that shot at her, and killed her. It was really awful circumstances. She had her son in the car with her, she was taking him to school. And she was shot down in front of him. So, the other thing is being reported is that ... we're not sure who, but someone left some kind of pasteboard or cardboard note saying something which basically means this is for having a big mouth, or saying too much, for bringing things out into the light that you shouldn't.
So what's being investigated at this point, and is... a lot of the research and the articles that she's written recently for La Jornada in particular, they are around the drug trafficking situation. And a particular area in Chihuahua which is called the Sierra Tarahumara where there's a lot of people being expelled from their homes, having their land taken away from them, and being taken over by drug traffickers. So that's according to the governor of the State of Chihuahua, Javier Corral, that is one of the lines of investigation that they are looking at right now is basically, her reporting and the drug trafficking that is a huge problem in the north part of the country.
DB: I know, Molly, you are just beginning to investigate this story, to do a little reporting on it. But do we know... can we trust law enforcement that's supposed to be investigating now? What can we expect? Will there really be an investigation, based on past experience?
MG: That's a great question. I know we talked about, a couple years ago, the disappearance of the 43 students, and all of the distrust that exists in the country around investigations, around criminal investigations. So, yes, I... based on that experience I definitely have my doubts about how much we can trust these investigations. For example, the governor of the state who I just talked about, Javier Corral, is already being kind of looked at as somewhat of a shady character. He's being criticized for having this past week-end been out golfing and not attending to the really difficult situation in his state, in terms of violence.
So, absolutely there's been murders of three journalists in the last month, in the month of March. There was Miroslava Breach who was just murdered yesterday, and there were two others, one I believe was in Veracruz and another in Guerrero. So, it is very difficult for journalists themselves and for any in the country to trust these investigations, because almost... very, very seldom is anyone brought to justice. People who are supposedly brought to justice, are often questioned... in terms of the 43 students, there's questions about people being tortured, and getting false confessions.
And, I'm sure it's been reported on Flashpoints, Mexico is the most dangerous place in Latin America for journalists. There have been three, only, in the month of March. And no one has been brought to justice in any of those cases. So, yes, it is highly questionable how this investigation will take place. I was just reading that it can be investigated by the federal authorities, but at this point it's just state and local. And there's lots of talk about corruption, within the state and local police departments. So, it's definitely something that has to be followed. I know that the Commission on Human Rights, here in Mexico is already on the case. And will be looking at if the investigation is being done in the correct way. But that is a very difficult question whenever there are journalists murdered or human rights workers murdered in Mexico, because unfortunately the authorities... most people here do not believe what the authorities say, and, again, the perpetrators are very seldom brought to justice.
DB: I guess the Committee to Protect Journalist actually came out with an official report, was released yesterday or today that said that Mexico is the most dangerous country in the hemisphere to be reporting on, at this time, in history. And, I guess, we're going to keep a very close eye on this. Francisco Herrera is here with us Molly and he has a question for you.
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