A stunning front page editorial appeared in Northern Mexico’s largest newspaper El Diario; they conceded the country’s most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, is now controlled by the narco-drug cartels.
The front page editorial came after the murder of one of their reporters; another cameraman was also seriously injured after cartels opened fire on the journalists in response to news coverage about the brutality and violence that continues to escalate under Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon.
“Lords of the different organizations that are fighting the square of Ciudad Juarez,” is how the editorial begins. “You are, at present, the de facto authorities in this city because the controls have been instituted.”
The paper clearly states they do not want anymore employees to die at the hands of the cartel assassins and said journalists can no longer live with the daily narco intimidation.
Simply put, El Diario will no longer cover the cartel violence because police can no longer provide security or protection for journalists.
“The vacuum of power in Chihuahua in the midst of an environment in which there is no sufficient guarantees for citizens to develop their lives…activities, journalism has become one of the most dangerous professions,” the editorial column reads.