An Argentine journalist and her assistant both claimed to have received death threats since the beginning of November. The journalists believe the threats are motivated by the up-coming publication of a book investigating Mexican President Felipe Calderón's six-year term, reported Artículo 19.
Journalist Olga Wornat and her investigative assistant Edgar Monroy reported they received the threats via e-mail and cellphones, suggesting electronic intercepts of their information.
Monroy said he received a threat over e-mail asking him to hand over the manuscript and provide information about their sources for over $700,000, reported Animal Político. Monroy added that when he didn't respond to the bribe, he noticed that his phones were tapped and started receiving detailed itineraries of his daily schedule; a white truck even tried to run him over.
Monroy said he reported the threats to the Mexican authorities but after little action on their part he was forced to contract bodyguards and a patrol to guard his home in Mexico City 24 hours a day, according to the website Redes de Poder.
In 2006, Wornat faced a multimillion-dollar fine for moral damages after the publication of a book about Mexican First Lady Martha Sahagún Fox, wife of then-president Vicente Fox, but the Mexican Supreme Court nullified the sentence in 2009.
