02/28/15 —A distribution center for the newspaper Reforma was attacked early in the morning of February 15 in Tlalnepantla, near the border with the municipality of Naucalpan, in the State of Mexico (Estado de México, Edomex). The attack occurred at approximately 2:00am on Sunday morning in the neighborhood of Viveros del Valle, and has left a franchisee employee in critical condition after he was shot in the nape of his neck during the attack. A truck owned by Reforma was also fired upon four times. No suspects have been detained yet in the case.
The attack comes on the heels of a series of publications made by Reforma in previous weeks that addressed the insecurity in nearby Naucalpan and the local police force’s alleged involvement in several incidences. On February 1, Reforma reported that Naucalpan Councilmember Esther Tapia accused the local police of kidnapping and beating her 23-year-old son to intimidate him, though it is unclear why he was targeted. Video footage of the event captured by nearby security cameras show a vehicle approach her son, and police officers exit from the vehicle and detain and physically assault him. The police vehicle, reports El Universal, is one of the Naucalpan Police’s nine new patrol cars, though it lacked official police insignia and police license plates. Councilmember Tapia has since filed a complaint with the State of Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de México, PGJE). One week later on February 8, a reporter and photographer from Reforma were then allegedly threatened by local police as they were in the process of covering a different story. Then the day before the February 15 attack on Reforma, the newspaper company reported that the police on patrol in Naucalpan did indeed lack official license plates, which can facilitate the cloning of law enforcement units and further the infiltration of organized crime into official security institutions. Such accusations of suspect police involvement come amidst continued controversy in Mexico over the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students in September 2014 in Iguala, Guerrero, and the local Iguala police’s alleged involvement.
The Reforma attack also exemplifies that violence against journalists in Mexico continues to be a serious problem. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 32 journalists have been killed in connection with their work in Mexico since 1992—the tenth highest count worldwide. It is also one of only five countries worldwide to have reported at least one journalist’s murder already in 2015 with the decapitation of José Moisés Sánchez Cerezo in La Unión, Veracruz in early January. France (8 media workers killed), South Sudan (5), Syria (1), and Yemen (1) round out that list.
Sources:
“Journalists Killed in 2015.” Committee to Protect Journalists. Last accessed February 16, 2015.
Redacción. “Balean centro de distribución del periódico Reforma.” El Diario. February 16, 2015.
