MEXICAN PRESS FACES BULLETS FOR THEIR DRUG STORIES

R Recently there were stories on the Mexican government's hiring of an
American public relations specialist to improve its image in the U.S.
Other elements of Mexican society, it seems, are also concerned about
what appears in the press.

But even as the government's PR man plans a "feelgood" campaign, those
other elements are carrying out a "feel-bad" one.

Very bad. In Nuevo Laredo, a border city of 300,000 that has been
wracked by turf wars between rival drug-trafficking gangs, at least
four men attacked the editorial office of the newspaper La Manana
with automatic weapons and a hand grenade last Monday. Reporter Jaime
Orozco Tey was hit five times. If he lives, he will never walk again,
doctors report. Orozco Tey, 40, worked with the paper 14 years. He has
two daughters, ages 9 and 7. Witnesses said the goons kept shooting
him even as he fled to cover.

Nuevo Laredo journalists were already walking on eggshells -- they
have told the Associated Press that names of drug-gang victims have
been omitted and stories held after traffickers have called and
threatened reporters. And now they are throwing in the towel. On
Tuesday, Ramon Cantu Deandar, the owner and general manager of La
Manana, announced a "zero investigations" policy regarding the drug
trade. "They are forcing us to do that, to not inform about violent
incidents so that the city's image and credibility are not stained,"
he told the Laredo (Texas) Morning Times.

Well, that's one way to keep your coverage from having a negative
spin. Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the attack in loud tones
and promised safety for border journalists. But in a city where the
murder rate has been running at about one a day since the beginning of
the year, and in a country whose law-enforcement agencies are
hamstrung by its long-standing culture of "impunidad" -- the impunity
purchased by stacks of criminal cash -- faith in such promises is
utterly lacking. Such Mexican lawmen as have not been bought off by
the traffickers are likely to be outgunned by them. Reports emerged
last year that the mega-gang run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has set
up "Los Zetas," a paramilitary group manned by former Mexican army
special operations commandos, some trained at Fort Benning in the U.S.

The attack on La Manana, which has all the earmarks of a military
operation, is likely to have been conducted by such a group. Cantu
Deandar's public surrender may seem craven, but what is he, or any
other threatened Mexican journalist, supposed to do? If the police
can't or (because of "impunidad") won't protect journalists, and they
cannot protect themselves -- Mexican law imposes virtually total gun
control, except for those who have bribed their way to "impunidad" --
they have no choice but to go silent.

In America, there has been much talk and worry about securing the
border from terrorism. In Mexico, shamefully, control of the border
appears to have been largely yielded.