Thursday, Jan. 8, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.
EVERY DAY that U.S. journalists go to work, they can be thankful for the press freedoms enjoyed by them and fellow workers. Reporters and editors in dozens of other countries work under the heavy shadow of tyranny imposed upon them by governments, and others by the criminal elements of society. Some days it's most difficult to find a clear distinction between the gangsters in government and those operating outside of it.
This writer's treatment of the bullying tactics of Middle East terrorists and governments has drawn several comments. One of the readers, Mohamed El-Bendary, not only read these columns but has submitted an editorial to be published in SUN editorial pages today.
Before leaving the subject of press freedom, I wish to point out that our journalists don't have to buy a ticket to the Middle East to experience fear of government and terrorists. Just take your reporter's notebook and drive south across our border with Mexico and start asking questions about the drug trade and law enforcement. Just as dangerous is to be caught between competing drug barons.
So what's it like for Mexican journalists who can't go north to the United States after digging for information? It appears that more Mexican journalists are willing to step up and print the truth. The gunning down of Jesus Blancornelas, a respected writer, in Tijuana didn't back off his friends. The young reporters are digging with even more energy since he was ambushed for revealing that David Barron Corona was responsible for killing two anti-drug soldiers. Incidentally, Barron also died in the ambush when hit by a stray bullet but Blancornelas, seriously wounded, survived.
A month earlier, Mexican journalist Miguel Robledo Martinez, a photographer for Las Expresion newspaper of Matamoros, was roughed up and shot in the arm by police. His crime was taking photographs that implied there is corruption in the local police department.
The Economist magazine tells us: "Mexico's leaders have only recently acknowledged the threat posed by its barons, and refuse to think seriously of extradition. The real work in exposing the drug lords there is being done not by prosecutors or policemen, but by journalists on the front line of the drug war -- and they are paying with their lives. In May, Benjamin Flores, head of a paper in San Luis Rio Colorado, ... reported that half a ton of cocaine confiscated by federal officials had gone missing. Soon after, he was shot dead by gunmen linked to local drugs mobs."
This is a pretty heavy load for journalists, not long out of school, to carry. Those young men and women may soon earn the reputation given airplane pilots in past years. "There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there aren't any old, bold pilots" was a familiar saying.
Jose Luis Perez, Baja human rights activist, told Los Angeles Times reporter Anne-Marie O'Connor, "These young journalists are going to go far. They are aggressive. They take risks. They want to legitimatize their profession." Perez goes on to say, "They are not attacking just to attack, but to reveal the truth." Yes, and the truth can get you killed in Mexico.
Other than admiring Mexico's new breed of journalists, we should be thankful for their courage. The border between our countries gives us little comfort. There are many indications that some of Mexico's drug people and killers are living north of the border. Some, easily identified, have been raised on our side of the border and the Mexican Mafia in California prisons are possibly supplying some of the assassins.
The New York Times magazine, when telling about the murder of publisher Benjamin Flores in San Luis Rio Colorado, gives us a warning:
"Several of the suspects are still at large, including the two brothers of Jaime Gonzalez, the narco who allegedly masterminded the Flores murder. The Gonzalezes are rumored to be living openly just across the border in Arizona, evidence of another disturbing trend. Because of the narco trade, La Linea -- always the dividing line between rich and poor -- has also become a boundary between safety and danger. Today, that boundary is fraying, and there are those on the American side who fear it could disappear altogether."
The article then goes on to bring it closer to home: "In late August, President Clinton's anti-drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, warned that drug-related lawlessness raging on Mexico's side of the border could easily spill over to the United States, and predicted the probable consequences: 'Dead American judicial officials, dead civilians, kidnappings, the corruption of mayors, police chiefs and local policemen, the forced purchase of American properties, intimidation of witnesses.'"
Strange that young Mexican journalists, if they can survive, may be our only successful defense against the drugs and police corruption existing on our border.
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