While President Felipe Calderon emphasized on Friday on the value of democracy, in the framework of the Iberoamerican summit that is underway in Argentina,by saying that, that is what allows freedom of criticism, and thereby promotes pluralism and diversity; two journalist are being threaten and harassed by the Mexican State.

Photo by the realtruth.org

On Thursday, journalist Anabel Hernandez made of public knowledge on the most listen morning radio news program Noticias MVS 102.5 FM with journalist Carmen Aristegui, regarding on the lawsuit she filed in to the Human Rights Commission and the Attorney General of Mexico City, after learning of possible threats against her. She assured that, a former police alerted her  that they are planning to murder her, and  allegedly it's being orchestrated by the Public Security Secretary, Genaro García Luna and Luis Cardenas Palomino, chief of Regional Security Division of the Federal Police.

Anabel Hernandez is a well known journalist for her in-depth investigations to unveil the corruption and abuse of power in the Mexican political class. In her 2008 book “The Accomplices of the President”, she exposed the links of the  Public Security Secretary, Genaro Garcia Luna and Luis Cardenas Palomino with the drug cartels and kidnapping gangs.

Surprisingly, these threats came right after she gave an interview the day before on that same news program, where she talked about her most recent book titled “The Drug Lords”. In this  book, she reveals that in early 2008 the Mexican government made direct contact with the drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo Guzmán” to negotiate an agreement that would put an end to the rivalry between the drug cartels. However, during that contact, the most wanted Mexican drug lord by the FBI, decided to give out names of his accomplices of his jailbreak back in 2001, and also pointed out that the late Juan Camilo Mouriño, former State Secretary was involved in selling the drug territories to the cartels.

Anabel Hernandez has dedicated most of Calderon’s administration investigating the questionable reputation of state official in charge of Mexico’s national security, Genaro García Luna, and which the U.S government describes him as “a net loser” according to a cable leaked by Wikileaks this past week.

Also this week, the drug kingpin and protected witness, Sergio Villareal Barragan accused Ricardo Ravelo, reporter and specialized journalist on drug trafficking and organized crime for the weekly magazine Proceso, that allegedly he was paid 50 thousand dollars so he could stop mentioning him in his articles.

During an interview this week on local radio news program Noticias MVS 102.5 FM, Ricardo Ravelo denied the accusation by saying: “It’s a dishonest, totally false remark made by the protected witness Sergio Villareal Barragan, better known as “El Grande” and it could be interpret as a low blow from the government in collusion with the media company that serves its interests, Televisa”. He continued on saying, that he never had any direct or indirect communication with “El Grande”, which he assures that he only knows him by the photographs released by the press after his arrest in the city of Puebla, and he flatly refused of having received any money from the organized crime.

On November 21st the weekly magazine Proceso published an article written by Ricardo Ravelo, revealing information based on the drug kingpin first police statements, where he points out that he met  Felipe Calderon, recently elected president,  on September 2006 during the baptize gathering of the daughter of senator Guillermo Anaya of the right wing party (PAN).

Proceso has been characterized for being critical and for its in-depth journalistic investigations for the last 34 years.

All of the above, clearly contradicts the official discourse where they point out that the organized crime are the ones behind the aggressions and murders of the journalists and media workers, and that they are considered to be a real threat for freedom of speech. The cases of Anabel Hernandez and Ricardo Ravelo should alert the Mexican society and start questioning, how many of the more than 30 journalists and media workers that have been murdered or vanished during Felipe Calderon's presidency since December 2006, actually have been committed by the organized crime? As we all know, Mexico is consider as the deadliest country in the world for the press as well as one of the worst nations to solve crimes against journalists. Why is this? Perhaps, we might have the answer right under our noses.