Three years have passed since a Mexican journalist for El Diario; José Armando Rodriguez, based in Juarez, was assassinated as a result his colleagues are more determined to write about the nations drug cartels than they ever have, despite many facing the same outcome as Rodriguez. On November 13, 2008, Rodriguez was about to take his two young daughters to school when a man came by and shot him several times infront of his daughters. One of them witnessed the attack and hasn’t spoken publicly nor attended the memorial event for their father.
Armando covered crimes for the El Diario relating to drug cartels, he was among the first journalists to write at length about the violence shift in the city. His next three prosecutors have not been able to make a case yet, two were executed and one fled for his safety. However Rodriguez is not the first journalist murdered; since 2000: 74 journalists have been assassinated, and 14 of them have been since 2010. The majority of these murders are thought to be of a direct consequence of their stories being published in the media. Despite all this, his friends are tired of the injustice and are determined to address about the drug cartels in their paper despite the risks.
I think the situation in Juarez has gone too far, and this is not only because 74 journalists that have been murdered, but for the other thousands of people been assassinated due to drug cartels. Mexico is by definition a country that embraces democracy, hence free speech. It is obvious that police officers are implicated with this or else there would have been more progress in trialing the executers rather then letting them slip away. It’s a question of characters and moral values as well as the people that have had enough. I find it very courageous what the newspapers are doing (even though it shouldn’t be a life threatening job) and encourage them to use the newspaper as their weapon to promote and awake other citizens of Juarez to fight this unjust violence from the cartels.
Carol I totally agree with you. The situation with the drug cartels in Mexico and other countries of South America has gone too far. It is incredible that the violence and insecurity that the cartels are causing are actually slowing down the development that these countries have experimented in the past years as well as the efforts that they have done to become a democracy. In my opinion, with these groups, the legitimacy of the government might be doubted as people do not feel secure. However, can we actually talk about democracy in a country when some of the most basic rights such as freedom of speech are denied?
ReplyDeleteIt is completely unnacceptable that journalists have to work under those conditions because they are threatened. I think that, in addition to increasing the political actions in Mexico to stop the cartels, maybe the "more developed" countries that consume these drugs should take more severe measures to control their use. This is obviously really complicated, but maybe if society was more aware of these crimes and abuses they would also be more aware of the harm of drugs, not just for themselves but for the whole society in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
ReplyDeleteI think this situation is unacceptable; the citizens of a country, based on a democratic system, should have the freedom to protest, inform and face the corruption without the fear of being killed. In terms of journalism, it is intolerable that these professionals cannot perform their jobs when their articles are related to the drug cartels in Mexico. This situation has gone so far: in some areas of Mexico, where disputes over drug territories between the authorities and criminal groups, has resulted in the press being terrorized so as to not to report on its activities. Some media organizations refuse to cover any drug-related activity, even if it means ignoring fighting in the street. On many occasions, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), it was found that journalists had been forced by drug cartels to publish reports attacking rival groups. This needs to end: the government has to enforce security measures to protect the civilians and also to punish every activity related to corruption, such as the drug cartels. However, the possibility of fully controlling the trafficking of narcotics has always been a far reached aimed of the government, where corruption of the authorities and multi-billionaire drug lords have reigned for many years.
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