Journalists reporting, and surviving, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Coverage of the challenges for journalists working in Latin America continues today on La Plaza. Mike O'Connor, representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists here in Mexico, filed the following report about journalists working in the northern border town of Ciudad Juarez (see a December dispatch from Mexico correspondent Ken Ellingwood on the violence gripping the city):

For the press, Ciudad Juarez is among the most dangerous cities in one of the deadliest countries in the world. CPJ research shows that 27 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, at least 10 in direct reprisal for their work, and that seven more have disappeared. In November, veteran police reporter Armando Rodriguez was shot dead in front of his home in Ciudad Juarez. State investigators told CPJ they have identified drug cartel members as suspects in the killing, but federal authorities in charge of the case have not acted on the information. The federal attorney general’s office declined comment on the status of its probe.

Listen to the audio report below, or click here to read the full article on the CPJ website.

For more recent posts on the dangers journalists face in Mexico, go here, here and here.

Photo: Schoolboys, in foreground, look at the body of a shooting victim in a playground in Satelite, a working-class section of east Ciudad Juarez. The area is notorious for drug dealing. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times. See more photos here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[Gabriel]

As always happens, the media of the US is eager to show the bad news from Mexico. When it is time for the good news, they will never speak them up. I think the US is the one who would like to see Mexico failed. The US would like to show the world that they were right when they said we were going to become a "failed state". That would be a great opportunity for the US to take the mexican oil, as well as its natural resourses.