Authorities in the Mexican border state of Coahuila had to remove 45 signs and banners threatening the newspaper Zócalo that appeared in several cities across the state on Thursday, March 7, reported the website CNN México.
The state's Interior Secretary Armando Luna Canales announced that the government had taken precautionary measures to protect the offices of the newspaper, published in Torreón, Monclova, Piedras Negras and Cuidad Acuña, all located along the Texas-Mexico border. Coahuila's state prosecutor opened a criminal investigation into the appearance of the signs containing death threats against Zócalo's Editor-in-Chief Francisco Juaristi, according to El Informador and El Mañana.
These kinds of threats are a common practice by organized criminal organizations in Mexico. At the beginning of 2012, a series of banners appeared threatening the family of Governor Rúben Moreira near the official's home, according to Zócalo. Months later, the governor's nephew was killed and the crime remains unsolved.
Also in Coahuila, the newspaper El Siglo de Torreón suffered three consecutive armed attacks in February along with the kidnapping of five of its employees. Recently, the prosecutor of the neighboring state of Durango announced the arrest of 21 people suspected of firing on the publication's offices, reported CNN México.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
