Thursday, December 14, 2006
SWOP homepageFNS 12/14/06 - More Dispatches from the War against Journalists
http://www.nmsu.edu/~frontera/
December 14, 2006
Human Rights News
More Dispatches from the War against Journalists
Before he left office on December 1, Mexican president Vicente Fox lauded big strides against authoritarianism and intolerance during his 6-year administration. Besieged by murder, violence and intimidation, many Mexican journalists are wondering what country Fox was talking about in his homilies.
“We are up to our ears hearing how freedom of the press was one of the great accomplishments,” wrote Veracruz state’s Mundo de Cordoba newspaper in a recent editorial. “In reality, what was gained was to put us in the dishonorable first place position on the list of the most dangerous countries in the Americas to exercise journalism.” Nine Mexican and foreign journalists have been murdered in Mexico so far this year, six of them since October. Three other Mexican journalists have disappeared in 2006.
El Mundo’s “Law of the Jungle” editorial followed death threats against two journalists employed by the newspaper: photographer Saul Contreras and reporter Rafael Saavedra. On separate occasions, both men were recently the targets of threats presumably because of their investigations about organized crime. Contreras complained of being the victim of pointed death threats by gun-toting men in Suburban and sedan vehicles who pulled alongside him on a Cordoba street earlier this month and shouted, “Right now, you’re going to die, you son-of-a-bitch!” Heavy passing traffic at the time of the incident may have saved the photographer’s life.
In light of the November 28 murder of Adolfo Sanchez Guzman, the former Televisa correspondent in Orizaba, Veracruz, Contreras and Saavedra did not consider their experiences idle threats and quickly filed legal charges with the local district attorney against “whomever is responsible.” Two men have been arrested in the Sanchez murder, which authorities deny happened because of Sanchez’s journalistic activities.
Embroiled in political conflict, Oaxaca state continues being an especially dangerous place for freedom of expression. On December 8, indigenous columnist and attorney Raul Marcial Perez of El Grafico newspaper was gunned down by assailants in a murder which was rapidly condemned by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders. A former indigenous activist leader, Marcial was a prominent critic of the administration of Governor Ulises Ruiz. “Raul was very critical of Ulises Ruiz’s government,” said Issac Olmedo, El Grafico’s director. “Lately, he devoted the majority of his columns to the social movements in Oaxaca, and cited the names of those responsible for the conflict.”
In an apparently unrelated incident the day after Marcial Perez’s murder, an unnamed reporter for the El Imparcial newspaper in Oaxaca City was allegedly beaten by state judicial policemen after he attempted to interview State Judicial Police Director Manuel Moreno. Meanwhile, Graciela Atencio, an Argentine national who once worked as an editor for the Ciudad Juarez daily Norte, recently denounced that she was threatened with deportation from Mexico after taking a stand about events in Oaxaca. The veteran communicator and women’s activist accused the chief of the state-run Oaxaca Women’s Institute of issuing the threat after Atencio resigned from the government agency to protest the occupation of Oaxaca City by the Federal Preventive Police.
On December 11, the day after International Human Rights Day, the Mexico City -based Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) and the Not One More campaign issued the Declaration Against Violence Towards Journalists and for Freedom of Expression in Mexico. Initially signed by 230 Mexican and US journalists, the statement demanded serious investigations of crimes against journalists, as well as an end to criminal defamation and other laws that hinder reporting. It also took aim at journalists who fall into the temptations of corruption.
Sounding off the alarm bell about the breakdown of respect for the rule of law and freedom of expression, the declaration noted that “every day more media adopt self- censorship as a legitimate way of staying safe,” all to the loss of society and its right to information.
To publicize the statement, journalists and their supporters staged protests in 11 Mexican and US states. Regarded as the most dangerous place in Mexico to engage in reporting, journalists in the northern border state of Tamaulipas did not dare make a public showing. Instead, they were supported by colleagues who delivered a to the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, Texas. Among other actions, journalists in Mexicali delivered the declaration to state government offices in Baja California Norte. Convened in memory of recently deceased Tijuana journalist Jesus Blancornelas, the cross-border action was the first public protest against violence towards journalists during the new administration of President Felipe Calderon.
While murders, beatings and death threats get the most publicity, Mexican journalists confront other difficulties that frequently land them in trouble. Defamation lawsuitsand court subpoenas are two tactics commonly employed to silence the press. In recent weeks, journalists Xochitl Narcisco Martinez of Inter Diario de la Costa Chica and Zacarias Cervantes of El Sur and Milenio newspapers in Guerrero state were arrested for stories they had reported.
Despite an adverse climate, Mexican journalists chalked up a victory this month when commissions in the Mexican Senate approved a resolution urging that defamation be classified strictly as a civil and not a criminal offense. Supported by Senator Rosario Ibarra, the head of the Senate’s human rights commission, and Dr. Jose Luis Soberanes, the president of the National Human Rights Commission, the measure could be enacted into law before the Senate breaks for the winter holidays. Passage of the law would help bring Mexico into compliance with a recommendation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that obstacles to freedom of expression in the country be eliminated.
“To speak about freedom of the press can sound frivolous,”editorialized Veracruz’s Mundo de Cordoba newspaper, “but it is precisely by means of it that the people are able to confront corruption, impunity and the culture of violence, which are the principal problems that face our country.”
Sources: Cepet.org, December 11, 2006. Press release. El Universal, December 9, 12 and 14, 2006. Articles by Jorge Octavio Ochoa, the Notimex news agency and editorial staff. El Sur, December 12, 2006. Article by Ezequiel Flores Contreras. Proceso/ Apro, December 6 and 13, 2006. Articles by Soledad Jarquin Edgar, Regina Martinez and Manuel Robles. La Jornada, December 5 and 11, 2006. Articles by Andres T. Morales, Notimex and editorial staff.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
December 14, 2006
Human Rights News
More Dispatches from the War against Journalists
Before he left office on December 1, Mexican president Vicente Fox lauded big strides against authoritarianism and intolerance during his 6-year administration. Besieged by murder, violence and intimidation, many Mexican journalists are wondering what country Fox was talking about in his homilies.
“We are up to our ears hearing how freedom of the press was one of the great accomplishments,” wrote Veracruz state’s Mundo de Cordoba newspaper in a recent editorial. “In reality, what was gained was to put us in the dishonorable first place position on the list of the most dangerous countries in the Americas to exercise journalism.” Nine Mexican and foreign journalists have been murdered in Mexico so far this year, six of them since October. Three other Mexican journalists have disappeared in 2006.
El Mundo’s “Law of the Jungle” editorial followed death threats against two journalists employed by the newspaper: photographer Saul Contreras and reporter Rafael Saavedra. On separate occasions, both men were recently the targets of threats presumably because of their investigations about organized crime. Contreras complained of being the victim of pointed death threats by gun-toting men in Suburban and sedan vehicles who pulled alongside him on a Cordoba street earlier this month and shouted, “Right now, you’re going to die, you son-of-a-bitch!” Heavy passing traffic at the time of the incident may have saved the photographer’s life.
In light of the November 28 murder of Adolfo Sanchez Guzman, the former Televisa correspondent in Orizaba, Veracruz, Contreras and Saavedra did not consider their experiences idle threats and quickly filed legal charges with the local district attorney against “whomever is responsible.” Two men have been arrested in the Sanchez murder, which authorities deny happened because of Sanchez’s journalistic activities.
Embroiled in political conflict, Oaxaca state continues being an especially dangerous place for freedom of expression. On December 8, indigenous columnist and attorney Raul Marcial Perez of El Grafico newspaper was gunned down by assailants in a murder which was rapidly condemned by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders. A former indigenous activist leader, Marcial was a prominent critic of the administration of Governor Ulises Ruiz. “Raul was very critical of Ulises Ruiz’s government,” said Issac Olmedo, El Grafico’s director. “Lately, he devoted the majority of his columns to the social movements in Oaxaca, and cited the names of those responsible for the conflict.”
In an apparently unrelated incident the day after Marcial Perez’s murder, an unnamed reporter for the El Imparcial newspaper in Oaxaca City was allegedly beaten by state judicial policemen after he attempted to interview State Judicial Police Director Manuel Moreno. Meanwhile, Graciela Atencio, an Argentine national who once worked as an editor for the Ciudad Juarez daily Norte, recently denounced that she was threatened with deportation from Mexico after taking a stand about events in Oaxaca. The veteran communicator and women’s activist accused the chief of the state-run Oaxaca Women’s Institute of issuing the threat after Atencio resigned from the government agency to protest the occupation of Oaxaca City by the Federal Preventive Police.
On December 11, the day after International Human Rights Day, the Mexico City -based Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) and the Not One More campaign issued the Declaration Against Violence Towards Journalists and for Freedom of Expression in Mexico. Initially signed by 230 Mexican and US journalists, the statement demanded serious investigations of crimes against journalists, as well as an end to criminal defamation and other laws that hinder reporting. It also took aim at journalists who fall into the temptations of corruption.
Sounding off the alarm bell about the breakdown of respect for the rule of law and freedom of expression, the declaration noted that “every day more media adopt self- censorship as a legitimate way of staying safe,” all to the loss of society and its right to information.
To publicize the statement, journalists and their supporters staged protests in 11 Mexican and US states. Regarded as the most dangerous place in Mexico to engage in reporting, journalists in the northern border state of Tamaulipas did not dare make a public showing. Instead, they were supported by colleagues who delivered a to the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, Texas. Among other actions, journalists in Mexicali delivered the declaration to state government offices in Baja California Norte. Convened in memory of recently deceased Tijuana journalist Jesus Blancornelas, the cross-border action was the first public protest against violence towards journalists during the new administration of President Felipe Calderon.
While murders, beatings and death threats get the most publicity, Mexican journalists confront other difficulties that frequently land them in trouble. Defamation lawsuitsand court subpoenas are two tactics commonly employed to silence the press. In recent weeks, journalists Xochitl Narcisco Martinez of Inter Diario de la Costa Chica and Zacarias Cervantes of El Sur and Milenio newspapers in Guerrero state were arrested for stories they had reported.
Despite an adverse climate, Mexican journalists chalked up a victory this month when commissions in the Mexican Senate approved a resolution urging that defamation be classified strictly as a civil and not a criminal offense. Supported by Senator Rosario Ibarra, the head of the Senate’s human rights commission, and Dr. Jose Luis Soberanes, the president of the National Human Rights Commission, the measure could be enacted into law before the Senate breaks for the winter holidays. Passage of the law would help bring Mexico into compliance with a recommendation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that obstacles to freedom of expression in the country be eliminated.
“To speak about freedom of the press can sound frivolous,”editorialized Veracruz’s Mundo de Cordoba newspaper, “but it is precisely by means of it that the people are able to confront corruption, impunity and the culture of violence, which are the principal problems that face our country.”
Sources: Cepet.org, December 11, 2006. Press release. El Universal, December 9, 12 and 14, 2006. Articles by Jorge Octavio Ochoa, the Notimex news agency and editorial staff. El Sur, December 12, 2006. Article by Ezequiel Flores Contreras. Proceso/ Apro, December 6 and 13, 2006. Articles by Soledad Jarquin Edgar, Regina Martinez and Manuel Robles. La Jornada, December 5 and 11, 2006. Articles by Andres T. Morales, Notimex and editorial staff.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
SWOP homepageSWOP Holiday Party Saturday
Happy Holidays SWOPistas!
Our Holiday party is this coming Saturday.
Food, music, presents for the children…Friends!
Please join us!
When: Saturday, December 16
Time: 6-9pm
Place: La Vega Studio (click for map)
803 La Vega Street
Call 505 247 8832 for more info
FNS - Land Speculation, Gentrification Visit Border City
From Frontera Norte Sur News Service - more proof development and immigration issues are intertwined...
December 13, 2006
Ciudad Juarez News
Land Speculation, Gentrification Visit a Border City
Sunk in an economic morass, Ciudad Juarez waddled through one of the worst economic downturns in its history from 2000-03. Vacant industrial sites, idle factories and empty businesses characterized much of the economic life in Chihuahua state’s largest city. On the surface, the economic picture is much different today. A new convention center, chic nightclubs, sports betting parlors, hotel construction, retail development, and hot real estate deals give Ciudad Juarez the veneer of a renewed 21st Century dynamism. Rising land prices, fueled by capital shifts and promising new investments, are reported in different parts of the border city.
A magnet for businesses ranging from copy shops to moderately-prized hotels, the US Consulate’s planned move to a section of the city known as the Golden Zone is encouraging land speculation on adjacent streets. The Consulate is moving its sprawling headquarters from a convenient location near one of the international bridges to a site deeper in Ciudad Juarez’s urban core.
In Ciudad Juarez’s funky downtown, meanwhile, an ambitious renovation project similar in many ways to downtown redevelopment plans in neighboring El Paso and other major US cities is underway. Talk is even in the air of linking the downtowns of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in a binational “arts corridor,” a plan which if it sees thelight of day, would certainly radically transform the cheap, all-you-can drink nightlife strip that caters to El Paso and New Mexico youths. The area targeted for redevelopment has also been frequently marred by drug-dealing, mysterious disappearances of women, gangland-style executions and other violence.
Jointly promoted by the Chihuahua state and Ciudad Juarez municipal governments, the project seeks to rid the downtown area of seedy businesses and install new enterprises that will presumably draw a different and better-behaved clientele. Already, the gleaming new façade shrouding the old Benito Juarez Monument projects the “clean” image Ciudad Juarez’s movers and shakers want to promote.
A total of 170 buildings, including 33 homes and 137businesses, are targeted for buy-outs and removals in the zone roughly extending from the commercial strip along September 16 Avenue to the century-old Mariscal vice district. Almost $10 million dollars in public monies have been initially earmarked for the metropolitan make-over.
“Right now, the majority of the real estate is in decay,” said Roberto Chaires Almanza, Ciudad Juarez’s director of municipal urban development. “This is all about providing an incentive to set off a boom in downtown development…”
Overseeing the ambitious program on the ground, Chaires was involved in the redevelopment of Chihuahua City’s historic Downtown district during the administration of former
Governor Patricio Martinez. Another veteran of Chihuahua
City redevelopment, Valentin Trevizo, is under state-municipal contract to negotiate with the current property owners and, in his own words, blunt unnecessary price speculation.
Trevizo said recently: “I have instructions from the governor and mayor to carry out a fair negotiation. I believe it is a mistaken view if people don’t understand that it is fair and an opportunity to sell their property, because there will be no other opportunity.”
Interviewed by the local press, some downtown merchants expressed misgivings about the revitalization plan, or said they were simply uninformed about the scope of the project. The owner of La Superior Hardware, 69-year-old Don Sixto contended the initial offering price of $35,000 dollars for his family business was not even in the range of sane. “If they want to pay, let them pay what the store is worth and I will sell them the business and all,” retorted the shop owner.
A third locus of real estate speculation is emerging along the Anapra highway that connects downtown Ciudad Juarez to its sprawling, low-income suburb of Anapra, which hugs the sands of the New Mexico border. Set to connect Anapra with the Casas Grandes Highway and link up to the future binational border city of Jeronimo-Santa Teresa that is jointly supported by the Chihuahua and New Mexico state governments, The Camino Real highway development is regarded as the impetus for the sizzling real estate market in one of Ciudad Juarez’s poorest zones.
Prices for some strategically located small lots have reportedly increased by 26 times their original price in recent months. Long regarded as run-down, the outskirts of neighborhoods like Felipe Angeles are suddenly places of acute interest visited by mysterious buyers who are offering as much as $38-39,000 dollars for small lots. “I don’t know what to do or think,” remarked one resident who preferred to remain anonymous. “It seems strange to me that they are offering so much money just for a small part of the property.”
The soaring real estate prices near Anapra are sparking concerns about the possible displacement of tens of thousands of low-income residents who provide much of the labor force for the foreign-owned maquiladora plants.
“Where are the city’s poor going to go?” wondered Cesar Fuentes Flores, an urban planning researcher at the Colegio de La Frontera Norte in Ciudad Juarez. “This was the part of the city where they went before, now many go to the south, but with (land speculation), just where?” Fuentes cautioned that the gentrification of Anapra could disperse new social conflicts throughout the city.
Municipal Urban Development Director Chaires warned against purchasing land for high prices near Anapra until a final development plan for the area is approved and issued early next year. “The first step in acquiring a lot is to have the assurance of the city government that it is feasible to develop,” Chaires said. “It’s important not to get locked into speculating, because there is no certainty at the moment. It is speculation.”
Sources: El Diario de Juarez, December 11 and 12, 2006.
Articles by Gabriela Minjares and Horacio Carrasco.
Norte, December 11, 2006. Article by Arroyo Ortega.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
December 13, 2006
Ciudad Juarez News
Land Speculation, Gentrification Visit a Border City
Sunk in an economic morass, Ciudad Juarez waddled through one of the worst economic downturns in its history from 2000-03. Vacant industrial sites, idle factories and empty businesses characterized much of the economic life in Chihuahua state’s largest city. On the surface, the economic picture is much different today. A new convention center, chic nightclubs, sports betting parlors, hotel construction, retail development, and hot real estate deals give Ciudad Juarez the veneer of a renewed 21st Century dynamism. Rising land prices, fueled by capital shifts and promising new investments, are reported in different parts of the border city.
A magnet for businesses ranging from copy shops to moderately-prized hotels, the US Consulate’s planned move to a section of the city known as the Golden Zone is encouraging land speculation on adjacent streets. The Consulate is moving its sprawling headquarters from a convenient location near one of the international bridges to a site deeper in Ciudad Juarez’s urban core.
In Ciudad Juarez’s funky downtown, meanwhile, an ambitious renovation project similar in many ways to downtown redevelopment plans in neighboring El Paso and other major US cities is underway. Talk is even in the air of linking the downtowns of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in a binational “arts corridor,” a plan which if it sees thelight of day, would certainly radically transform the cheap, all-you-can drink nightlife strip that caters to El Paso and New Mexico youths. The area targeted for redevelopment has also been frequently marred by drug-dealing, mysterious disappearances of women, gangland-style executions and other violence.
Jointly promoted by the Chihuahua state and Ciudad Juarez municipal governments, the project seeks to rid the downtown area of seedy businesses and install new enterprises that will presumably draw a different and better-behaved clientele. Already, the gleaming new façade shrouding the old Benito Juarez Monument projects the “clean” image Ciudad Juarez’s movers and shakers want to promote.
A total of 170 buildings, including 33 homes and 137businesses, are targeted for buy-outs and removals in the zone roughly extending from the commercial strip along September 16 Avenue to the century-old Mariscal vice district. Almost $10 million dollars in public monies have been initially earmarked for the metropolitan make-over.
“Right now, the majority of the real estate is in decay,” said Roberto Chaires Almanza, Ciudad Juarez’s director of municipal urban development. “This is all about providing an incentive to set off a boom in downtown development…”
Overseeing the ambitious program on the ground, Chaires was involved in the redevelopment of Chihuahua City’s historic Downtown district during the administration of former
Governor Patricio Martinez. Another veteran of Chihuahua
City redevelopment, Valentin Trevizo, is under state-municipal contract to negotiate with the current property owners and, in his own words, blunt unnecessary price speculation.
Trevizo said recently: “I have instructions from the governor and mayor to carry out a fair negotiation. I believe it is a mistaken view if people don’t understand that it is fair and an opportunity to sell their property, because there will be no other opportunity.”
Interviewed by the local press, some downtown merchants expressed misgivings about the revitalization plan, or said they were simply uninformed about the scope of the project. The owner of La Superior Hardware, 69-year-old Don Sixto contended the initial offering price of $35,000 dollars for his family business was not even in the range of sane. “If they want to pay, let them pay what the store is worth and I will sell them the business and all,” retorted the shop owner.
A third locus of real estate speculation is emerging along the Anapra highway that connects downtown Ciudad Juarez to its sprawling, low-income suburb of Anapra, which hugs the sands of the New Mexico border. Set to connect Anapra with the Casas Grandes Highway and link up to the future binational border city of Jeronimo-Santa Teresa that is jointly supported by the Chihuahua and New Mexico state governments, The Camino Real highway development is regarded as the impetus for the sizzling real estate market in one of Ciudad Juarez’s poorest zones.
Prices for some strategically located small lots have reportedly increased by 26 times their original price in recent months. Long regarded as run-down, the outskirts of neighborhoods like Felipe Angeles are suddenly places of acute interest visited by mysterious buyers who are offering as much as $38-39,000 dollars for small lots. “I don’t know what to do or think,” remarked one resident who preferred to remain anonymous. “It seems strange to me that they are offering so much money just for a small part of the property.”
The soaring real estate prices near Anapra are sparking concerns about the possible displacement of tens of thousands of low-income residents who provide much of the labor force for the foreign-owned maquiladora plants.
“Where are the city’s poor going to go?” wondered Cesar Fuentes Flores, an urban planning researcher at the Colegio de La Frontera Norte in Ciudad Juarez. “This was the part of the city where they went before, now many go to the south, but with (land speculation), just where?” Fuentes cautioned that the gentrification of Anapra could disperse new social conflicts throughout the city.
Municipal Urban Development Director Chaires warned against purchasing land for high prices near Anapra until a final development plan for the area is approved and issued early next year. “The first step in acquiring a lot is to have the assurance of the city government that it is feasible to develop,” Chaires said. “It’s important not to get locked into speculating, because there is no certainty at the moment. It is speculation.”
Sources: El Diario de Juarez, December 11 and 12, 2006.
Articles by Gabriela Minjares and Horacio Carrasco.
Norte, December 11, 2006. Article by Arroyo Ortega.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Monday, December 11, 2006
SWOP homepageIntel Pollution Control Shut Down Probed
Kudos goes to Robert Samanego of the NMED for the correction that upwardly revised his Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) testimony on unabated Intel emissions during last July's much publicized emergency shutdown. Based on his revision, the estimate grew from 40.5 pounds to more than 199.2 pounds for this one event.
However, that is just a small fraction of the total unabated toxic emissions from Intel's facility in the June - July time frame. During just this period, Intel reported to the NMED that there were VOC releases of more than 1580 pounds. The 199.2 pounds of toxic emissions reported during the high profile shutdown are clearly just the tip of the iceburg.
Mr. Samanego further testifies that, technically, each of these events is automatically considered a violation of the Intel air pollution permit.
Jeff Radford, editor of the Corrales Comment, reports on the EIB proceedings and related matters in the following article.
Intel Pollution Control Shut Down Probed
A subcommittee meeting of the N.M. Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) November 8 investigated the cause and effects of a major power outage at Intel this summer which shut down much of its pollution control equipment.
Read the full article on the Corrales Comment web site: http://corralescomment.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=616&Itemid=2
