The investigator’s disappearance and death illustrates why many high-level crimes in Mexico go unpunished. Cartel-related violence in Tamaulipas also frequently goes unreported for fear of retaliation. Early this morning, a car bomb exploded outside of the Ciudad Victoria office of the national broadcaster, Televisa, which has been covering the massacre.

Testimony by the massacre’s sole survivor indicates the murdered migrants had been kidnapped en route to the US by organized criminals. An average of more than 1600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month according to data published by the country’s National Human Rights Commission.

The purpose of the caravan was two-fold; to draw attention to the town’s humanitarian crisis and to provide safe passage for women seeking to leave the conflict zone. Safety concerns sparked by the ambush forced the cancellation of the caravan.

Two other humanitarian caravans have tried unsuccessfully to reach San Juan Copala in the past 4 months. Paramilitaries supposedly linked to the state’s ruling party have been blocking vehicular access to the town since November.

HOST INTRO: Journalists held marches across Mexico over the weekend to call attention to a rising tide of violence against the media and to protest the impunity surrounding the cases of dozens of murdered reporters. Shannon Young files this report from Mexico City.

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/download/7287/20100809sy.mp3

(reading names)

The Mexico City march began by reading the names of the 64 press workers murdered in the past decade. Ten journalists have been killed so far this year, putting 2010 on target to be the deadliest year ever for Mexican reporters. Eleven others are officially considered “missing persons”.

A column of around 1000 journalists and supporters participated in the silent march to Mexico’s Interior Ministry. Reporters held smaller demonstrations in 11 other Mexican cities.

(Elia Baltazar w/ translation)

Newspaper reporter and march organizer Elia Baltazar said the demonstrations marked the first time journalists have turned out in large enough numbers to affect traffic, but that reporters shouldn’t have to be in the streets protesting.

ELIA BALTAZAR: “Our place is in the streets only when we are reporting from them. That’s what we want – to continue reporting and informing the public. Demonstrations are not our place. This demonstration was an exception because we believe it’s time already to call the attention of the public. Journalists can no longer be silent on this matter. It needs to be brought before the public opinion.

Mexico has ranked as the Western Hemisphere’s deadliest country for journalists for several years. But what catalyzed reporters to hit the streets now was the recent kidnapping of 4 reporters in a single day. Three of the kidnapped worked for national broadcast media – a sector that hasn’t seen as much violence as the smaller, regional press. July was also a particularly deadly month, with 4 reporters murdered over a span of 8 days.

(Chants of “ni uno mas” )

Reporter and Editor Francisco Ortiz said it was about time the Mexico City press corps mobilized in support of media workers based in more dangerous areas of the country. Ortiz lives and works in Ciudad Juárez, the epicenter of Mexico’s Drug War. He said that reporters there have to be very cautious about how they cover the city’s top news story.

FRANCISCO ORTIZ: “You have to be careful about what you say. You have to know what to publish and what not to publish due to serious threats against reporters in Ciudad Juárez. Those who cover the crime beat may receive threats by phone for reporting a story that could either damage or benefit any of the criminal groups fighting for control of the city.”

Ortiz adds that organized crime isn’t the only sector trying to influence coverage.

FRANCISCO ORTIZ: ”There’s an ongoing campaign right now in Juarez in which the state and municipal governments try to convince journalists to report more positive things about the city than negative. As if this alone would end the violence. It’s not a question of whether to report on the violence because it exists or if the violence exists because it’s being reported. It makes no sense.”

While Mexico City-based media tend to run a lower risk of targeted assassinations, they are not immune to campaigns of intimidation and harassment. The federal government does have a special office to prosecute crimes against journalists – but it has been the subject of much criticism from those who have registered their cases.

Zosimo Camacho is the newsroom manager of Contralinea. He says the investigative news magazine has documented three office break-ins and multiple threats before the special prosecutor’s office, but they haven’t received any response.

ZOSIMO CAMACHO: “The delay with which they’ve taken on cases – not just ours, but of aggressions against journalists around the country – results in practically no action. We could say that none of the incidents of crimes against journalists have been solved. So, we have little faith that this situation will really change because we don’t see an earnest political will to act in defense of the freedom of expression and the right to information.”

Press freedom organizations argue that it’s precisely the lack of official action that enables crimes against journalists to continue. Ricardo Gonzalez is with the Mexico chapter of the international press freedom organization, Article 19.

RICARDO GONZALEZ: “The impunity regarding the crimes and violence against the press is rampant. I mean, we’re talking about around 98 percent of cases that remain impune at the moment – which obviously is an open invitation for future perpetrators. There is a high probability that you will get caught by the police for I dunno – crossing a light or something – but not for doing something to attack a journalist.”

The intensity of crimes against journalists and the lack of official action to protect the freedom of expression has not gone unnoticed. On Monday, Special Rapporteurs from both the United Nations and the Organization of American States began a 16-day fact-finding mission in Mexico.

Shannon Young, FSRN, Mexico City.

This comes in the wake of a corruption scandal in which prison guards in Gómez Palacios, Durango allegedly released and armed convicts to carry out mass murder in Torreón, Chihuahua. The two sister cities are one metropolitan area separated by a river which marks the state line.

Federal police investigators dropped this bombshell in a weekend press conference after looking into the July 18th massacre of 17 people at a birthday in a hotel. Eighteen people were wounded in the same attack. This was the third such massacre this year thought to have been committed by inmates released from the state penitentiary in Gómez Palacios. Crime scene shell casings were traced to assault rifles used by guards at the prison.

The four missing journalists aren’t the only victims in the scandal’s immediate fall out. A prison guard has been killed and 8 human heads have been found around the city of Durango, capital of the state of the same name.

Federal authorities allege that not only were dangerous criminals released from their cells, but that prison guards lent them high-caliber firearms and official vehicles. Investigators traced the weapons back to the prison from crime scene shell casings. The same weapons were allegedly used in at least 2 other massacres this year.

This isn’t the first time prison officials in the state of Durango have been accused of colluding with inmates tied to the region’s powerful drug trafficking interests. Four prison officials are currently under investigation.

Many of Mexico’s overcrowded prisons are microcosms of the drug violence that has claimed more than 24 thousand lives here since President Felipe Calderón launched his military approach to the Drug War in December of 2006.

Public school teachers in the Mexican state of Oaxaca mobilized today as part of ongoing labor negotiations and to commemorate the anniversary of a police action that sparked a popular uprising 4 years ago today.

(sound: barricade bottle rockets and chants)

The day of action kicked off at 4am local time with chants, bottle rockets, and barricades around the central plaza of Oaxaca City. While this has become an annual occurrence here, this year’s protests come just 3 weeks ahead of the elections to replace the governor the 2006 movement tried to oust.

During a pre-dawn rally in the central plaza, union representative Jose Alfredo Martinez, stopped short of calling for a punishment vote against the ruling party, but said the teachers’ union must continue to demand accountability for the political murders committed during the 2006 conflict.

Jose Alfredo Martinez: “We have to push for the political trial and imprisonment of the assassin of the people of Oaxaca. And we have to tell our rank and file membership regardless of whoever wins the state gubernatorial race, if we teachers of Oaxaca can’t deliver on our list of demands, the absence of accountible government will continue.”

(sound: mega-march chants)

The mega-march called by the teachers union today was miles long and drew at least 100,000 people. Due to its strength, the teachers’ union has the support of many of the state’s social and activist organizations. But the movement also has its critics.

An estimated 1.4 million schoolchildren miss class whenever the teachers mobilize en masse. Another common complaint is the vehicular chaos provoked by the frequent marches and blockades. Businesses in the downtown area often report losses whenever the teachers set up protest encampments in the central square.

Mr. Fernando, who runs a small sandwich stall in the center of the plaza says that his sales have declined by 30 percent since the protest encampment began 2 weeks ago. He just wants both sides to reach an agreement so he can recover economically.

Mr. Fernando: “We ask the authorities and the government to resolve this quickly. This always ends in an arrangement, but it always comes after they’ve been here awhile and they get tired or after the government says ‘fine, we’ll give you this much’ and they pick up their things and leave. So, why not do all this beforehand without dragging this all out and waiting for each side to wear down before negotiating?”

But negotiations between the teachers’ union and the state and federal government have stagnated. The teachers have announced they will triple the size of their protest encampment in the city center as of Tuesday morning.

The call for the second aid caravan to the town of San Juan Copala came just days after paramilitaries opened fire on a convoy of human rights defenders, teachers, activists, international observers, and reporters. The April 27th ambush killed a prominent Mexican activist and a Finnish observer.

A second aid caravan to San Juan Copala is due to leave Mexico City on Monday evening. Organizers say 350 people have signed up to participate and deliver 13 tons of donated aid.

The paramilitary group accused of perpetrating the April attack has been linked to the PRI, the party that has ruled Oaxaca without interruption for the past 80 years. Survivors of the first caravan say no police investigators have contacted them for their eyewitness accounts of the ambush.

Members of the European Parliament have called on the government of Mexico to guarantee the safety of next week’s caravan. A leading Congressman who is planning to participate says requests for security guarantees made to the Oaxaca state government have gone unanswered.

In Mexico, a “municipality” has the same political status as a county seat. Yosoyuxi is located within the territory of the 3 year-old self-declared autonomous municipality.

Timoteo Alejandro Ramírez and his wife, Cleriberta Castro, ran a small store in the front portion of their home. According to a press release from the autonomous municipal authorities, eyewitnesses saw men in a 3-ton truck pull up to the store front run by the couple under the guise of selling merchandise. Ramírez and Castro were found dead later by a neighbour.

San Juan Copala has been blockaded by paramilitaries since November of 2009. Teachers were refused re-entry into the town in January. On April 27, paramilitaries opened fire on an international humanitarian aid caravan travelling to the besieged area. Two people died and at least 3 others suffered gunshot wounds.

Members of the Triqui autonomy movement (MULT-I) have been camped out in Mexico City’s main square since May 3rd, calling for an end to the paramilitary blockade of San Juan Copala and for official action against the perpetrators of violent crimes against supporters of the autonomy movement. They are calling for a march in Mexico City this afternoon and have announced a second humanitarian caravan scheduled to arrive in San Juan Copala on June 8th.

In a 7 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court upheld a recently reformed internal policy of the Attorney General’s office that limits the National Human Rights Commission’s access to case files. The wording of the new policy allows the Mexican equivalent of the Justice Department to deny human rights investigators access to information that could “put ongoing investigations or the security of persons at risk”. The Attorney General’s Office itself will determine which case files meet the criteria for denial.

The National Human Rights Commission argued the policy restricting their oversight of the federal law enforcement agency was unconstitutional.  The Commission published a report earlier this month in which the Attorney General’s Office ranked second only to the Armed Forces in citizen complaints of human rights abuses.

Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling is the second in as many weeks to restrict the scope of the federally-funded human rights ombudsman’s office. Last week, the high court ruled that the National Human Rights Commission can only cite the Constitution – and not international law – in legal challenges.

(From the March 10, 2010 broadcast of Free Speech Radio News)

A report published by Mexico’s Human Rights Commission shows that close to 10,000 migrants were kidnapped for ransom in Mexican territory between September 2008 and February 2009. That’s an average of 50 kidnappings a day for 6 months. The commission based its statistics on information provided by migrant shelters, migrant testimonies, press accounts, and legal records, while noting that the actual dimensions of the kidnapping problem are likely much larger.

More than half of the nearly 10,000 kidnappings documented by the National Human Rights Commission occurred in the southern states of Veracruz and Tabasco.

Friar Blas Alvarado, who runs a migrant shelter in the southern border town of Tenosique, Tabasco, said the commission’s statistics are just the tip of the iceberg because his shelter has had “hundreds more cases that we haven’t documented or reported because, at this point, we don’t know where to take them”. He says he doesn’t trust the National Human Rights Commission to do anything beyond crunch numbers and that he doesn’t trust any other government agency because “they know very well – and have known for a long time – where these crimes are taking place, and they don’t do anything”.

Ties to organized crime

Migrant kidnappings in Tabasco and Veracruz are mostly attributed to the “Zetas” organized crime group. Friar Blas Alvarado says officials take no action against kidnappers either out of fear or because they are in collusion with the criminals. “The Zetas started out trafficking drugs and weapons, then got into kidnapping…and now they’ve taken over smuggling the undocumented. There used to be groups of coyotes that worked almost like independent contractors. Now, they’re all controlled by the Zetas.”

The Zetas group is often referred to as the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel. Beyond controlling organized crime activities in the southern states of Tabasco and Veracruz, the Zetas have also tried to muscle their way into migrant smuggling and kidnapping in Oaxaca.

Running a gauntlet of dangers

Reaching the United States as an undocumented Central American has never been easy. Countless migrants have sustained permanent injuries while jumping onto – or falling off of – the freight trains that provide free transportation north. Corrupt Mexican authorities are notorious for giving the undocumented the choice between deportation or paying a bribe. And the well-worn migration paths are habitual targets of highway robbers. But a new danger has emerged in the past 3 years; that of kidnapping migrants for ransom.

The most highly trafficked migration routes in Mexico are the railways that carry freight from one end of the country to the other. In the busy seasons, each train can carry hundreds of migrants – riding on top of or in between the cars.

That’s how Jose Gabriel Aguirre was traveling when he and others were attacked near the state line between Oaxaca and Chiapas by armed men in military uniforms.

Father Alejandro Solalinde, who runs the migrant shelter in Ciudad Ixtepec, Oaxaca, urged Jose Gabriel to file an official complaint to document his case and solicit a visa to cross Mexico legally…but the young Salvadoran didn’t anticipate the grinding pace of Mexican bureaucracy.

Jose Gabriel said he “never imagined it would take so long” to process his paperwork and that “there comes a time when one becomes impatient and wants to just leave”.

The time involved in filing a formal legal complaint is dissuasive to many migrants who just want to reach their destination as quickly as possible.

Food and shelter as bait

Church-run shelters in Mexico are crucial to migrant safety. In the areas without shelters, migrants are vulnerable to attack while sleeping in the open, waiting for the train, or searching for food. Exhaustion and hunger in these unprotected areas can make an invitation for a hot meal in private home very appealing…but it’s one of the primary methods used to trap the unsuspecting.

Jaime Curri from Honduras already knew to be wary of the seemingly friendly invitations after his brother was assaulted in La Arrocera, Chiapas.

“The women there help to make the assaults possible” says Jaime, “they’ll call to you from the line of houses next to the tracks saying ‘Hey, come over here – wouldn’t you like something to eat?’ Once you’re inside eating, they’ll draw their weapons on you and strip you naked right there – right in the house where they fed you! They’ll strip you naked and leave you with nothing.”

Friar Blas Alvarado says the same trick is used in Tenosique to lure groups of kidnapping victims into safe houses. Once closed up inside, armed men threaten and even torture their victims to extract telephone numbers of family members in the US or in home countries. Then, the extortion begins.

Ransom money and complicity

The National Human Rights Commission says the average ransom is $2500 and that kidnapping networks make upwards of $50 million a year. The report includes testimonies of migrants who witnessed killings of other kidnapping victims when their ransoms weren’t paid.

But Friar Alvarado says shelter workers can do little to free kidnapping victims, especially when kidnappers seem to always get tipped off before a police raid. Aside from teaching prevention, Friar Alvarado says the best way to combat the kidnapping rings head-on is through military action.

“We have a military base here in Tenosique” says Friar Alvarado. “If they really wanted to do something about the problem, there would be a military operation. So be it – send in the military to sweep and clean up all of those neighborhoods where migrants are kidnapped. And even if they detain and deport the migrants, I think many would prefer that to being held in captivity with kidnappers taking money from their families… but they haven’t taken that kind of action. I wish they would.”

Whether the military is less susceptible to corruption than the Mexican police isn’t clear. The founders of the Zetas themselves came from the ranks of the military’s special forces.

But doing nothing has allowed the kidnapping industry to reach its present-day proportions, nurtured by impunity and official disinterest.

In its report, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the creation of mechanisms to coordinate a police response to the wave of kidnappings, as well as explicitly giving undocumented migrants the same rights as Mexican crime victims. But, like all recommendations from the commission to the Mexican state, they are not binding.

(A version of this report produced for radio is available here)