On The Border

NO END TO 'NUEVO LAREDO NIGHTMARE'

Brazen Assault On Newspaper Is Part Of Resurgence In Drug Violence

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - Truckloads of federal police guarded the
entrances Wednesday to El Manana, this city's leading newspaper.

It was the only way the Mexican government could ensure that the
embattled newspaper would publish after editorial offices were shot
up Monday night by intruders who fired more than 60 rounds and hurled
a grenade outside the managing editor's office. A veteran police
reporter remained in critical condition Wednesday night, and friends
feared his wounds may leave him paralyzed.

After three years of violence between Mexico's largest drug cartels,
the residents of Nuevo Laredo are angry, weary and frightened. The
killings, kidnappings, beatings and death threats have taken a
horrific toll. Tourism is in a deep decline, the city police force is
in a shambles after a purge of corrupt officers, and local businesses
are hurting, merchants say.

The assault on the newspaper followed another brazen attack near the
city police station last week: Gunmen tried to kill homicide suspects
who were being taken to jail. And the authorities seemed powerless to
stop them.

"People are becoming real concerned that narco-traffickers can do
whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want," said
Michael Yoder, the U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo. "That's a hard way to live."

Yoder said the violence had seemed to taper off during the last three
months of 2005, perhaps signaling "an end to the Nuevo Laredo
nightmare." But at least 22 gangland-style slayings in January proved
the warring drug cartels had simply paused to reload.

And though no one has claimed responsibility for Monday's attack,
Yoder said he thinks traffickers are trying to muzzle the newspaper's
reporting on the drug war.

If that is the case, it's working.

Papers Walk Gingerly

On Tuesday, and again Wednesday, the owners of El Manana said they
planned to drastically cut back coverage of the drug trade.

Already, veteran reporters in the town say, most journalists exercise
extreme caution when reporting on organized crime.

"It's not just now. It's been like this for a while," said a
50-year-old reporter, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of
retribution. "The work we do is limited. We can't mention the names
of people or cartels. It's prohibited."

If a reporter's account is too detailed, his editors usually cut out
the references to cartels and suspects, he said.

"We are in the hands of the narcos, and we have to acknowledge that,"
the reporter said. "They are the ones who are setting the conditions.
They make up the rules. They run things."

Uncooperative or unknowing journalists are sometimes kidnapped, held
briefly and threatened until they finally understand the "rules,"
journalists say. Then they are released and often do not report their
harrowing experience to the police.

Marco Villarreal, the longtime publisher of El Diario, another Nuevo
Laredo newspaper, said the attack on El Manana underscores "the
impunity that the delinquents enjoy."

"As journalists," he said, "we are all wounded and we stand in
solidarity with our colleagues at the aggrieved newspaper."

The injured reporter, Jaime Orozco Tey, who was shot five times, had
just celebrated his 40th birthday on Monday.

He started at El Diario in 1984, and later met his wife, Lily, there.

"She was a receptionist and they met here and got married," said
Villarreal, who added that the couple has two young daughters.

"Jaime is a good man, a very good journalist, and he is a good
person," Villarreal said. "He has a bullet lodged in his spinal
column, and the doctors say he could remain in a wheelchair if he recovers."

Hospital Guarded

A few blocks from El Manana, heavily armed police guarded San Jose
Hospital where Orozco was in intensive care.

Daniel Rosas, El Manana's managing editor, said Orozco was an
experienced police reporter who was assigned to the night shift to
help with the paper's coverage of violence in the city.

"I've known him for many years. He is a responsible, serious
reporter," Rosas said.

On Wednesday, Mexico's Attorney General's Office said it would
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate violence against journalists.