Pubdate: Fri, 17 Sep 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Adriana Gomez Licon

PHOTOGRAPHER FOR EL DIARIO GUNNED DOWN

JUAREZ -- A photography intern of Juarez's largest daily newspaper was
killed and another intern injured in an attack Thursday afternoon
outside a busy mall.

Still wearing press badges and with their equipment handy, Luis Carlos
Santiago, 21, and fellow intern Carlos Manuel Sanchez had just learned
camera tricks at a workshop. They were about to get a bite to eat.

Instead, Santiago was riddled with bullets about 2:30 p.m. as he was
driving a silver Nissan sedan in the parking lot of the Rio Grande
Mall. The mall is in the busy commercial Triunfo de la Republica
Avenue area in north Juarez

Sanchez, who was sitting on the passenger side, was shot four times.
Witnesses said he got out of the car and ran toward the mall before he
collapsed. He was sent to the hospital with critical injuries but was
later reported in stable condition.

As Santiago's sisters and relatives arrived at the crime scene, they
screamed, "But why? Why?" They broke into tears and kneeled on the
pavement.

It was just not another murder scene for fellow El Diario reporters
and photographers. Some were crying and others were perplexed by the
bloody scene.

Santiago was a starting photographer who had been at El Diario about
six months.

Other El Diario friends who did not want to be identified, fearing
retaliation, said Santiago was a good young man.

"He was always joking," a fellow intern said.

Although some friends and co-workers said Thursday they did not
believe Santiago was targeted because of his job, El Diario Editor
Pedro Torres said it was an attack against journalism as a profession.
"We do see it as an attack against El Diario, an attack against the
ones who work here," he said.

Torres said Santiago was an energetic reporter eager to
work.

"To see his aspirations shatter like that is very sad," he
said.

Torres said he will demand authorities thoroughly investigate the
fatal shooting. He said evidence should lead police to the guilty
party because it happened in a public place outside a mall where
witnesses watched and security cameras were in place.

"This event is marking a September 16 of mourning," Torres said. "For
us, it won't be a day to celebrate anymore."

Sept. 16 is the Mexican Independence Day, one of the most important
national holidays in the country.

A representative of the journalists association of Juarez said media
workers are more vulnerable to attacks.

"It is an outrage against the freedom of the press," said Adrian
Ventura, president of the association. "After this episode, it is
clear now that journalists walk on the razor's edge."

Gustavo Reveles Acosta, president of the El Paso Press Club and a
reporter for the El Paso Times, said the killing showcases the dangers
many journalists face.

"Juarez has become a dangerous place for journalists, and the public
should not tolerate threats to an industry that aims to support the
people's right to know," Reveles said in a statement for the press
club.

"We hope the authorities work diligently to find those responsible for
this crime. Doing so could send a strong message that the murder of
journalists covering a story is not condoned."

The last time a journalist was slain in Juarez was in November
2008.

Armando Rodriguez was killed as he left his home in Juarez to take his
daughter to school. He covered the police beat for El Diario and was
threatened several times before he was slain.

Four journalists were kidnapped in the northern state of Coahuila in
Mexico in late July. One of them, Alejandro Hernandez Pacheco, is
seeking asylum in El Paso.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says more than 30
journalists have disappeared or been killed in Mexico since 2006.

According to the International Press Institute, 10 journalists had
been killed in Mexico through the end of August, making it the most
deadly country for journalists in the world, followed by Honduras and
Pakistan.

"We are shocked by this brutal attack against our colleagues," Carlos
Lauria, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas, said in a
statement. "We urge President Felipe Calderon to make the protection
of free expression a priority of his national agenda."

A CPJ delegation will meet with Calderon on Wednesday to discuss
threats against the press.

About 28,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in
Mexico since Calderon declared a war on drug cartels and began
deploying thousands of soldiers and federal police nationwide.

Juarez has seen the worst. About 6,400 people have been killed in the
border city since 2008 when the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels began
battling over turf.
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