Alejandro Hernández Pacheco, a cameraman for Televisa who was kidnapped by alleged drug traffickers in July, is in the U.S. seeking asylum for himself, his wife, and his two kids, CNN reports.
Journalist associations and Mexican authorities from Chihuahua, a state along the border with the United States that is one of the most violent zones in the world for journalists because of drug trafficking-related violence, signed on Sept. 6 the first safety protocol for journalists who cover high-risk news, according to Masnoticias and Tiempo.
“Silence or Death in Mexico's Press” is the title of the just-released 2010 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report is an accounting of the crisis in freedom of expression and access to information resulting from surging organized crime, violence and corruption.
José Raúl Arriaga, a journalist for Univisión Radio in Puerto Rico, was stabbed between 14 and 18 times early on Sept. 7 in the town of Corozal, reported El Nuevo Día. The 37-year-old journalist was taken to the hospital, where he was stable and alert, added Primera Hora.
The Mexican press has become a target for drug-related violence, prompting a company to promote its bullet-proof vests as a way of protecting members of the media, according to Clarín and news agencies.
Police found 27 bullet casings outside the home of Edín Maas Bol, whose family of reporters in the central Guatemalan city of Cobán, Alta Verapaz, have suffered three previous attacks, including the killing of his brother, reported Prensa Libre and Cobán Noticioso.
Frank La Rue and Catalinta Botero, special rapporteurs for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, respectively, for freedom of expression, gave their preliminary observations from their official mission to Mexico, warning that the situation in the country was grave, reported BBC Mundo and El Universal.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court approved the request to seek extradition of Walid Makled, alleged Venezuelan drug dealer arrested in Colombia last week, reported the Associated Press. Makled is considered the mastermind behind the 2009 killing of journalist Orel Sambrano, according to El Universal.
Mexican authorities are investigating grenade attacks at the offices of media giant Televisa in the cities of Matamoros and Monterrey. The first incident happened in Matamoros the night of Saturday, Aug. 14, and no one was injured. In the case of Monterrey, the attack occurred at dawn on Sunday, slightly injuring two employees and damaging a car and nearby buildings, reported Agencia Reforma and La Crónica de Hoy.
Milenio is reporting that the Mexican Public Safety Secretary announced the capture in Durango of five alleged members of the Sinaloa cartel suspected of being linked to the kidnapping of two television videographers and a reporter at the end of last July.
Ten days after being kidnapped from his home in Zacatecas, Ulises González García was freed and then immediately hospitalized, reported Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The editor of the weekly newspaper La Opinión showed signs of having been tortured.
Faced with systematic attacks against journalists and the media in parts of Mexico, the United Nations (U.N.) and the Organization of American States (OAS) have proposed a new risk category for reporters who work in conflict zones that aren't within the definition of war outlined by international treaties, reported La Jornada.