Government raises import duties on newsprint
IAPA urged the Mexican government to suspend a 150 percent rise in import duties on newsprint. The import duties on newsprint were raised from 6 to 15 percent, according to reports that appeared in the official Mexican government publication on 26 June 1996, the date on which the executive decree took effect. IAPA called the […]
Journalist kidnapped and beaten
On 23 June 1996, Oswald Alonso, a journalist with Radio Rama in Cuernavaca, Morelos state, was kidnapped from his home by three unidentified men. He was beaten and tortured for twenty four hours, and released the night of 24 June in Teloloapan, Guerrero state. A medical exam confirmed that Alonso had a dislocated collarbone, a […]
Television producer and journalist Jorge Javier Elorriaga freed
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 8 May and 13 February 1996, and 19 July 1995** Mexican television producer and journalist Jorge Javier Elorriaga, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 3 May 1996 on charges of terrorism, conspiracy and rebellion, was freed on appeal on 6 June. Appeals To
Journalist Rodolfo F. Pena target of death threat
On 11 May 1996, an anonymous message containing death threats was discovered in the mailbox at the home of journalist Rodolfo F. Pena. It is suspected that the threat is connected to the work of Pena, who is a reporter for the daily “La Jornada” as well as part of the daily’s publishing group. This […]
Journalist Jorge Javier Elorriaga sentenced to thirteen years in prison
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 13 February 1996 and 19 July 1995** On 3 May 1996, television producer Jorge Javier Elorriaga (previously reported as “Elorreaga”) was sentenced to thirteen years in prison on charges of terrorism, rebellion and conspiracy. His political rights (“derechos politicos”) were also suspended for four years. The Tuxtla Gutierrez judge, Juan Manuel […]
Harassment of community radio station
On the night of 5 April 1996, one of the loudspeakers of “La Radio Contigo” was shot at by unknown individuals. The station is based in San Miguel Xaltepec, Puebla, just east of Mexico City. Two weeks ago, “La Radio Contigo” conducted a live interview for two hours with two of the four candidates for […]
Jailed Mexican army officer suffers campaign of harassment due to criticism of human rights abuses
Sources: Press, Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de Derechos Humanos Brigadier General Jose Gallardo Rodriguez, whose imprisonment in Mexico in November 1993 is widely thought to be connected to his criticism of the military, was denied visits by a leading Mexican human right group — the Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los […]
Journalist Ruperto Armenta Gerrardo murdered
Ruperto Armenta Gerardo, editor of the Guasave-based weekly, “El Regional”, in the state of Sinaloa, was beaten to death by unidentified men, on 5 February 1995. Gerardo’s body was found inside a water canal near the town of Guasave. Although it is not known if his murder was related to his work as a journalist, […]