Posted on 06/24/2004 7:42:37 AM PDT by JesseHousman
OUR OPINION: KILLING IS A BLOW AGAINST ALL WHO VALUE TRUTH IN JOURNALISM
The murder of Mexican journalist Francisco J. Ortiz Franco in Tijuana should be condemned in the strongest terms. By shooting this valiant newsman in front of his children, the killers not only committed a brutal act of cowardice, but also sought once more to intimidate a muckraking publication that represents some of the best in journalism.
Mr. Ortiz Franco was a founding editor of the Zeta newsweekly, which frequently has exposed the nefarious deeds of narcotics traffickers, money launderers and their friends in positions of power. It is feared and hated by enemies and esteemed by all who value honest journalism. Its motto -- ''Free like the wind'' -- is a constant reminder that at Zeta the truth is not for sale.
Other Zeta editors have been in the cross-hairs of the killers before. In 1988, gunmen killed Félix Miranda, another founder. The crime remains unsolved. In 1997, co-director Jesús Blancornelas narrowly survived after being shot five times by drug-cartel gunmen who killed his bodyguard. Mr. Blancornelas later received the World Press Freedom prize from UNESCO.
The murder of Mr. Ortiz Franco is a reminder that journalists are at particular risk in Mexico wherever the narcotics mafias flourish. President Vicente Fox should seize this opportunity to turn a tragedy into a victory for democracy by urging passage of a proposal to federalize crimes such as the murder of journalists and women in Mexican states where local authorities can't cope.
This would help to bring Mexico into the community of countries justly admired for commitment to the rule of law and inform killers that bullets may silence courageous newsmen, but truth itself is bullet-proof.
Mexico will remain corrupt.
These animals are terrorists and should be dealt with as such by the Mexican government.
How come Mikey Moore doesnt look to Mexico for evidence of what kind of society comes from Govt control...
Mexico is darned near as dangerous as Saudi Arabia. And for a similar reason. Officials there cannot see the real perpetrators, as often they are protected by the very system that is looking for the wrong suspect.
What, and screw up his entire thesis that "It's all Bush's fault"?
The animals behind it are the most powerful men in Mexico.
Hank Rhon. Remember that name.
One of Mexico's richest runs for Tijuana mayor
Associated Press
May. 28, 2004 12:00 AM
TIJUANA, Mexico - The two major candidates for Tijuana's mayorship officially kicked off their campaigns as a millionaire racetrack owner held a private party at a discotheque and a conservative ex-City Council member opened his race headquarters.
Jorge Hank Rhon, a member of one of the country's richest and most politically powerful families, once was linked by U.S. authorities to drug smugglers. Those authorities described him as "a significant criminal threat to the United States." Washington later disavowed the report that made that statement.
Rhon is running with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico from 1929 until losing to President Vicente Fox in 2000. The party has had a hard time in Tijuana, where it has not controlled the mayorship in 15 years.
The candidate for Fox's National Action Party (PAN) is Jorge Ramos, who stepped down from city government to run and has a commanding lead in recent newspaper public opinion polls.
The election is on Aug. 1, and electoral rules prohibited Hank Rhon, Ramos and all other candidates from running advertisements and holding campaign events until Monday.
The mayoral vote was originally scheduled for July 4, but city officials agreed to push the date back after local merchants complained that a ban on the sale of alcohol during election days would cost the city millions in lost tourism dollars from Californians crossing the border to drink and dance the night away over the United States' Fourth of July weekend.
PRI officials circumvented the rules in recent weeks, however, by running ads for "a campaign without a candidate" on local radio and television stations and pouring money into publicity for the Caliente greyhound racetrack, which is owned by Hank Rhon.
Supporters also hung a mammoth banner in support of Hank Rhon at the track.
In a recent interview, Hank Rhon shrugged off suggestions that his controversial past could cost him votes and said he wanted to turn Tijuana into a Mexican version of its border neighbor, San Diego, by slashing crime rates and attracting heaps of private investment from Mexican and foreign businesses.
Worth a reported $500 million in U.S. dollars, Hank Rhon kicked off his campaign just after midnight Monday morning at Balak, an exclusive Tijuana night spot in a mall he owns close to the border.
There the 48-year-old father of 18 addressed a large group of young voters.
Ramos spent his first official day on the campaign trail at a morning Mass, then headed to one of the city's best-known landmarks, the Gran Hotel, to inaugurate his campaign headquarters, dubbing the building "The Blue House," in honor of his party's colors, blue and white.
A number of smaller parities with little presence in Tijuana have formed an anti-crime alliance with Hank Rhon. They include the Green Party and the Worker's Party but are not expected to win many votes for the PRI candidate.
Thats really very funny.
There was a Catholic bishop executed a few years ago. The hit men left town on a plane accompanied by Rhon's son. (I don't think they ever figured out why they hit the bishop). The meetup point after the hit was Rhon's stadium.
And then there is the hit on the Zeta owner, and possible involvement in this hit.
Rhon is the richest man in Mexico, and the single most powerful industrialist.
I love latin america. You find all the same elements in the US, but down south they are right there on the surface, its like looking at a machine with the cover plates removed. You can see all the moving parts, and what connects to what. Its fascinating.
That's right. Besides these hired assassians are probably under contract to the Mexican government.
"How come Mikey Moore doesnt look to Mexico for evidence of what kind of society comes from Govt control... "
Fat Boy might have to fess up. He can't do that in Mexico as he can in the US.
RIP, and sympathy to his family.
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