July 27, 2005
NAHJ Urges Mexican President Vicente Fox to Intervene in Attacks Against Journalists working at a Newspaper in Oaxaca
Media Contact: Joe Torres (202) 662-7145
Washington -- The National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls on Mexican President Vicente Fox to intervene in the conflict between members of the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC) and journalists working at Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, in the state of Oaxaca.
The conflict has led to efforts by union members to shut down the paper.
"We urge President Fox’s administration to make every effort to prevent further attacks against journalists working at Noticias,” said NAHJ President Veronica Villafañe. “We call on President Fox to send a strong message that attacks against the press will not be tolerated."
In recent weeks, 31 journalists were barricaded in their office building by members of CROC in an effort to prevent the paper from publishing, according to press reports. The journalists continued to write and publish a daily paper despite being barricaded. However, masked men believed to be union members entered the building on July 18, physically removing the journalists from the premises and ransacking the office, according to press accounts.
A labor dispute is reportedly at the heart of this conflict. But NAHJ is concerned by news stories reporting that attempts to shut down Noticias by union members were due to the paper’s critical coverage of the administration of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. The governor has been an on-going critic of the paper’s coverage.
The mission of NAHJ, founded in 1984, is to increase the percentage of Latinos working in our nation’s newsrooms and to improve news coverage.
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