Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Laurence Iliff, The Dallas Morning News DEATH THREAT TO U.S. BORDER REPORTER ALLEGED Embassy, Groups Decry Mexico Drug Traffickers' Attempt To Stifle Media MEXICO CITY - Journalism advocacy groups and the U.S. Embassy on Friday denounced a purported threat by drug traffickers to kill an American reporter on U.S. soil in coming days for coverage of cartel violence along the Texas-Mexico border. The threat, which was relayed to reporters by trusted U.S. sources, did not mention any journalist specifically. But it was said to focus on those who regularly cover an ongoing cartel turf war in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. The purported threat was to be carried out in Laredo, according to the sources. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued an alert on the apparent threat and said it had urged the Mexican government, during a meeting with the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., Arturo Sarukhan, to take steps to protect journalists. Because of the potential danger posed by the threat, the San Antonio Express-News temporarily removed its border reporter from its Laredo bureau. "We don't know that the report is credible, and we hope it isn't. But until we feel comfortable knowing that, we're going to err on the side of caution," Express-News editor Robert Rivard said Friday. "I think that was a prudent move." The Dallas Morning News, which regularly covers cartel operations in Nuevo Laredo, was also taking precautions, which the paper does not publicize, said editor Bob Mong. At the same time, he said, The News will continue to cover the drug story. "Reporting from Mexico and from the border is an important component of what we provide our readers, and because of that we'll continue to pursue stories that we think serve our readers from that region," Mr. Mong said. Tony Garza, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, denounced attempts to cow the media. "Threats against journalists, in an attempt to intimidate them from reporting the truth, must be condemned by all of us who understand the important role of a free press in a democratic society," he said in a prepared statement Friday. The Mexico Foreign Correspondents Association warned its members to be careful. "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 e-mail message said. Nuevo Laredo is a stronghold of the Gulf cartel and its paramilitary enforcement arm, the Zetas. Threats against American journalists working in Mexico are rare, but Mexican reporters covering the drug trade have become used to living in danger. According to the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, Mexico is second only to Iraq in the number of killings and kidnappings of journalists. More than 30 Mexican journalists have been slain or have "disappeared" in the last six years. Ramon Cantu Deandar, editor of the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Manana, deplored the threat against American journalists. "We join in solidarity with our U.S. colleagues who cover the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo area. And we greatly regret the news of this threat," he said in a telephone interview. He added, "Welcome to the club." A grenade attack against the El Manana newsroom nearly killed a reporter last year, and one of its top editors, Roberto Mora, was stabbed to death outside his home in 2004. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek