HACKS HIT IN DRUGS WAR

An American Investigative Journalist Is Being Sued Over His Website's
Reports Of Drugs Trafficking In Mexico. So What Are The Implications
For Freedom Of Speech?

In 1997, a notable Mexican billionaire, Roberto Hernandez, general
director and majority owner of the National Bank of Mexico (Banamex)
and one of the richest men in the world, picked up a copy of Por Esto,
a modest Mexican daily newspaper. In its pages was the first of 15
investigative reports which alleged that he was a major drugs trafficker.

After a lengthy criminal libel trial lasting more than two years, a
Mexican judge ruled that Banamex had not been libelled, a decision
that was upheld on appeal in May last year. A third attempt to press
criminal charges in Mexico was thrown out of court. Hernandez has
never personally filed a libel lawsuit over any of the allegations
made by Por Esto.

It could have ended there and it nearly did. But next month Banamex
will be back in court - this time in Courtroom 205 of the New York
State Supreme Court - and a new defendant will stand in the dock
alongside Por Esto's editor Mario Menendez and his team of
reporters. On July 21, the Mexican hacks will stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with Al Giordano, a US investigative journalist
and publisher of a crusading website, www.narconews.com. At stake, say
the defendants, is the future of free speech on the internet.

The Banamex suit charges the journalists with "defamation and
interference with prospective economic advantage", accusing them of
"maliciously smear[ing] Banamex with accusations that, among other
things, it is controlled and operated by narcotics traffickers and has
engaged in illegal activity".

If it hadn't been for Giordano, much of the world would never have
heard of Por Esto's allegations. Since leaving his native Boston, the
former political reporter has been operating - often in secret - deep
in the heart of Latin America's "narco states". He is the sole
publisher of Narco News, a website that aims at the reform of US drugs
policy. It attempts to expose corruption, offers translations of the
Latin press into English and aims to shatter "the illusion that the
drugs war is about combating drugs".

Banamex's lawyers claim that the defamation occurred last year when
Menendez and Giordano went on a publicity tour to New York. The
tour included an interview with Menendez in New York's Village
Voice, a radio interview with Giordano and Menendez, and a lecture
the pair gave at the Columbia University School of Law - all well
within the court's jurisdiction.But crucially, the libel action also
cites a number of articles Giordano published on his website, which is
produced and maintained in Mexico and uploaded to a server in Maryland
USA, not New York.

Speaking from an undisclosed location in Latin America, Giordano told
MediaGuardian: "If the National Bank of Mexico can sue a website
published from Mexico, over stories investigated, reported and uploaded
from Mexico, and sue that website in New York, that would set a
dangerous precedent that chills free speech throughout the internet. If
you say something that a large corporation doesn't like, not only can
you be hauled into court in Mexico, but you can be hauled into court
anywhere in the world."

According to Tamsin Allen, a specialist in media law at City law firm
Bindman and Partners, Banamex is practising a form of "forum
shopping". "It happens quite often," says Allen. "What it means in
effect is that the bank is looking around for a forum which is going
to give it the best result."

Giordano says he left the US because "journalism, as I once knew it,
seemed to be dying". After a year in Chiapas, living with the
indigenous Zapatista rebels, Giordano began operating from his secret
base in Latin America. In a little over a year, Narco News has broken
a string of scoops focusing on the war on drugs. It exposed a
conflict-of-interest scandal surrounding a series of Associated Press
articles about Bolivian politics, which led to the resignation of AP's
Bolivia correspondent, Peter McFarren. It also broke the news that the
president of Uruguay Jorge Batlle has recently begun calling for the
legalisation of drugs.

"None of the stories were about Banamex," says Giordano. "So you have
to ask: why doesn't Hernandez bring the suit himself?"

Narco News will be represented by Charles Nesson, the Harvard law
professor who came to prominence in 1987 when he defended Abbie
Hoffman and Amy Carter in their fight against the CIA. Akin, Gump,
Strauss, Hauer and Feld - the third largest lobbying firm in
Washington with clients including Colombia and Bolivia - will
represent Banamex. When proceedings begin next month the debate will
centre around whether Banamex has acted properly in bringing its
lawsuit in New York, when it has already been defeated three times in
Mexican courts.

In a bid to establish jurisdiction over Narco News, Banamex claims
that it is an "affiliate" of a media watchdog group called the Media
Channel, which is based in New York. "There's no money involved," says
Giordano. "Nobody pays to affiliate with organisations of like
interests. But imagine if affiliation could be used to sue Media
Channel in New York. It will have a chilling effect on media
organisations and citizen groups." Other affiliates include 78 UK
organisations, including Amnesty International, Comic Relief and
Guardian Unlimited.

"If this case is allowed to proceed, it means that any British
website, or any site in the world, could be dragged into a New York
court," says Giordano. "This case is costing me a lot of money that I
don't have. It's costing me time that is taking away from my
journalism, and it's a warning to every journalist that the same thing
will happen to you if you report about the activities of
billionaires."

Despite this, Giordano is relishing the fight. "If we go to trial, the
drug war goes on trial," he says. "This case has many interesting
elements, including photos of cocaine trafficking, and the outrageous
story of Mexican state persecution of journalists for taking such
photos and reporting the facts."

Also, "there is drug-money laundering, including in the tourism
industry, a US president and ambassador who were guests at the accused
trafficker's estate, and official complicity with and protection of
white-collar drug trafficking on both sides of the border."