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Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho seeks protection from new threats

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Journalist Lydia Cacho, who exposed a child pornography network in Cancun, Mexico, that involved business leaders, says she received new death threats last week, reports the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas blog.

‘The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted cautionary protective measures for the journalist, her family, and staff of the Center for Attention to Women (CIAM, in Spanish) of Cancún,’ the AFP news agency reports. ‘The IACHR also asked the Mexican government to take action to protect Cacho,’ EFE adds. ‘Cacho has received several death threats on her blog and recently noted that several unknown people took photos of her home,’ says the magazine Proceso.

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Cacho published a book in 2006 that alleged the existence of a child sex ring in the southern Mexican city of Cancun, after which she was illegally arrested and harassed by some of the powerful men she implicated in ‘Los Demonios del Eden’ (see more details of the case here).

She shot into the spotlight when she challenged her aggressors by going public and filing a legal action against them -- although it was ultimately unsuccessful.

Since then, Cacho has become something of a symbol for the issues of freedom of expression in Mexico and the repression of journalists. Her last book, ‘Memories of a Disgrace (Memorias de una Infamia),’ detailed the events that unfolded after the publication of ‘Los Demonios del Eden.’

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

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