Gulf Cartel now Threatening American Journalists
Jul 13th, 2007 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Organized Crime, PoliticsTHE BORDER REPORT
This e-mail just came in and I'm still checking with sources at DEA and FBI to confirm this:
Colleagues:
This is to warn any of you who may have to travel to the Nuevo Laredo area on news assignments to be extremely careful and security conscious, especially if you are working on stories related to drug trafficking anywhere along the U.S. border or in the Mexican Interior.
We have information from reliable sources that any U.S. or other foreign journalist in the area could become a target for assassination by killers hired by the local drug cartel.
The information already caused one large Texas newspaper to pull its correspondent out of Laredo.
Many of you have done stories on the drug situation along the border and are very familiar with the risks involved.
As you know we have a very confused and volatile situation in Mexico at the moment with the government fighting the drug cartels on one side and suspected guerrilla groups on the other.
It is the kind of situation where an incident involving a U.S. or other foreign journalist could be used by all groups to create more confusion.
As you all are aware, a number of our Mexican colleagues have been killed or gone missing in recent years. We are not immune.
So be very, very careful out there. Assume nothing and be careful about whom you trust. Always inform those you trust of your whereabouts when on assignments in dangerous territory.Â
Bad news if true; the stakes are climbing.
I still harbor some doubt that the Gulf Cartel or the Sinaloans will target an American journalist; beyond the border reporters and Mexico-based reporters, there's not that many Americans that merit a death threat.
And it would be extremely bad form to whack an American. That kind of attention brings a lot of heat to the plazas.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Mexican government itself didn't orchestrate the threat. It's received a lot of heat after pseudoephredrine king, Zhenli Ye Gon, turned the tables on the Feds. Last week, his lawyers said much of the $205 million found stashed in his home actually belonged to the Political Action Party.
The case is deteriorating into what the press calls "chino-gate."
I hope this threat doesn't quell the strong coverage the Texas papers have been giving the Mexican border. That's precisely what's happened to many of the strong Mexican newspapers who've lost narco-reporteros, including El Mañana in Nuevo Laredo and El Imparcial in Hermosillo.
Suerte hermanos and keep kicking ass.
-- Michael MarizcoÂ
I am very aware that without these reporters' hard work on this issue, there would be very little dialogue, and we owe them much thanks for getting this story out there. But as one reads the stories about the towers, it always seems like a side-bar to the "real story" of mayhem and disaster, the impact of illegal immigration on the border.
These people seem to love to confuse the issues, but, which parts of the "border war" actually cause mayhem?
Interesting how the words "Illegal immigration" have come to mean the border war, and is now synonymous with drug smuggling, human smuggling, and terrorism.
After reading hundreds of articles on this topic, I found a gem: "The towers, many Arivaca residents contend, will not solve the economic,
social and political problems behind illegal immigration." There it is, one sentence, simple and to the point. Maybe in the future we can get over how quirky we are and start looking at the real problems we face.
Do you really think that some people looking for jobs are really ruining our country?
Do you think the war on drugs is winnable? And do you really think some cameras can defend you from a terrorist plot?
Maybe better questions are needed instead of commentary on the idiosyncracies of a small town.
