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Gunmen murder deputy editor of crusading Mexican newspaper
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040622-1...
By Elliot Spagat
June 22, 2004
TIJUANA, Mexico ? Gunmen ambushed and killed an editor of the crusading weekly newspaper Zeta on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks against
the newspaper's leadership.
Francisco Ortiz Franco was gunned down as he left a clinic with his children, said Raul Gutierrez, spokesman for the state attorney general's office.
State investigators re-enacting the slaying at the scene said a masked man armed with a pistol jumped from the passenger side of a black 4X4 Jeep and
shot Ortiz at close range while he sat in the driver's seat of his blue Chevrolet Cobra. The Jeep then sped away.
Ortiz was hit four times in the head and neck, and died at the scene, said Francisco Castro Trenti, director of forensics for the Baja California
state attorney general's office. The children, ages 8 and 10, were unharmed.
Virginia Monje, 30, heard the shots from her kitchen. "They sounded like fireworks," she said.
She went outside to see Ortiz's two young children running from the scene shouting "Papi! Papi!" They were later escorted from the scene by people
wearing plainclothes, Monje said.
Blanca Suarez, a receptionist at a physical therapy office less than a block from the shooting said Ortiz was treated there at 10 a.m. for facial
paralysis. She did not elaborate on his condition, but said he left the clinic shortly before noon.
The clinic is located in a middle-class neighborhood of homes, shops and professional offices near the popular Zona Rio shopping district. It is also
just four blocks from the Tijuana offices of the state prosecutor's office.
In Mexico City, federal Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said he had no firm details yet about the incident, but he told reporters at a
news conference, "If we have evidence that it deals with organized crime, we will take over the case."
Ortiz, who trained as an attorney, was one of three editors at the newspaper and specialized in legal affairs in his column, "To Start With," though
drug trafficking was not his main focus.
Zeta has been famed for its reporting on the influence of drug traffickers in Tijuana, home to several notorious narcotics operations.
Employees at the paper said they expected to issue a statement later.
The newspaper's co-founder Hector Felix Miranda was ambushed and killed on April 20, 1988.
Two men were convicted in the shooting. One of them worked as a bodyguard at a local race track owned by Jorge Hank Rhon, a businessman from one of
Mexico's most powerful political families who is now running for mayor of Tijuana in elections that will be held Aug. 1.
Since the killing, Zeta has published a full-page notice each week under Felix Miranda's name: "Jorge Hank Rhon: Why did your bodyguard Antonio Vera
Palestina kill me?" the advertisement asks.
In 1997, the newspaper's publisher, Jesus Blancornelas, was badly wounded in a gangland-style attack that killed his bodyguard and driver, Luis Lauro
Valero.
Shortly before he was shot, Blancornelas had written a column blaming David Barron Corona, a reputed lieutenant in the Arellano Felix drug gang, for a
machine-gun slaying of two federal agents outside a Tijuana courthouse. Barron was among the men who attacked Blancornelas. He died in the crossfire.
Following the assault on Blancornelas, Ortiz vowed that threats would not deter the staff.
"Obviously, we are not going to change," he said at the time. "We are used to working on deep investigations, and that's not going to change."
Ortiz was among several journalists and government officials working with a Mexican advisory task force and the Miami-based Inter-American Press
Association on an investigation into Felix Miranda's murder.
The association, or IAPA, issued a statement Tuesday afternoon expressing its "outrage" at Ortiz's killing. Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA's
Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, sent messages to Baja California officials calling for a "prompt investigation in order to
determine who was responsible and to subject them to the full force of the law."
"Yet another crime in Tijuana must not go unpunished," Molina said.
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David K
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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disgusting... sick... animals... in front of his children, no less. They are scarred for life. I am very saddened that such terrorism is happening
ANYWHERE in the world, let alone the 'Amigo Country' next door. The price of truth should never be one's life... or the life-long mental wound to his
children... My prayers with the wife and children of this fallen hero.
[Edited on 6-23-2004 by David K]
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Anonymous
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Editor's murder scares Mexican border reporters
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040623-1...
By Tim Gaynor
June 23, 2004
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico ? Mexican journalists on the U.S. border, some with 24-hour protection from machine-gun toting soldiers, feared for their lives
Wednesday and expressed despair at an increasingly emasculated press after a crusading colleague was shot to death.
Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, a senior editor and co-founder of the Zeta weekly newspaper in Tijuana, was slain by unidentified gunmen as he drove in
his car with his small children on Tuesday afternoon.
Journalists said they suspected Zeta's campaigns against corrupt politicians and drug gangs had made Ortiz a target.
Some also worried that media might now be less willing to report on organized crime and drug corruption after the second killing of a high-profile
journalist this year.
"These murders make you frustrated, because you start to wonder if there's any point to denouncing these crimes or if it will just get you killed,"
said Arturo Solis, a newspaper journalist for 30 years in Tijuana who now runs a human rights group in the border area.
Violence has spiraled as drug gangs in the border area realize they can literally get away with murder to intimidate reporters, observers say. Since
1988, more than 20 journalists have been killed in Mexico.
"I think this has gotten worse in recent years. Obviously, journalists are more scared today," Solis said.
Mexican President Vicente Fox said on Tuesday he had told federal authorities to help local officials solve the crime as quickly as possible. But
journalists say past investigations provide little hope for arrests this time around.
"WHY DON'T THEY SHUT UP?"
Roberto Mora, a newspaper editor in Nuevo Laredo, was stabbed to death on March 19. Human rights groups have accused state prosecutors of covering up
clues to the murder after police labeled it a "crime of passion" by two gay neighbors.
Mora's replacement, Martin Holguin, has lived with death threats for many years as a journalist in northern Mexico, but he said criminals have
escalated the battle by focusing more on editors rather than reporters and columnists.
"It seems like (the criminals) are saying 'Why don't they shut up? Why don't they understand they should stop investigating?'" Holguin said.
Another founder of Zeta was murdered in 1988 by gunmen linked to a powerful local businessman.
Jesus Blancornelas, the current editor, has round-the-clock protection from soldiers after he barely survived a machine-gun assault in 1997. He has
not eaten at a restaurant or gone to mass since, traveling only to and from work.
Some reporters have decided it is just not worth it to risk investigating dangerous topics.
"Ever since we started the paper, it was very clear we wouldn't cover drug trafficking because of the risks involved," said Hugo Jimenez, editor at
the Hora Cero newspaper in Reynosa.
"It's very difficult for a newspaper on the border to combat a problem like drug trafficking," Jimenez said. "What happened in Tijuana confirms again
how vulnerable we journalists are in Mexico."
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jrbaja
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That would explain why
you can't believe a word you read in the u.s.papers. They know better than to tell the truth!
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JESSE
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I fully blame our politicians first, they are the ones that have allowed crime to become what it is today.
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Link to cartel sought in editor's killing
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040624-9...
Federal prosecutors could take over the Tijuana case
By Anna Cearley
June 24, 2004
TIJUANA ? Federal prosecutors are poised to take over an investigation into the killing Tuesday of Tijuana newspaper editor Francisco Ort?z Franco.
The Baja California Attorney General's Office is in charge of the case, as is typical with most such investigations. However, because of the sensitive
nature of this slaying, federal authorities also are assisting ? and could take over if a link to organized crime is established.
Publishing stories few dare investigate, Tijuana newspaper becomes magnet for violence
"We believe it's important that all authorities investigate this and share their resources to get to the bottom of this case," said Baja California's
top federal prosecutor, Antonio Mendoza Ch?vez.
Ort?z worked for a weekly paper, Zeta, that is known for stories about drug traffickers, corruption and other criminal activities. He was also a
practicing lawyer.
Finding a connection to organized crime would confirm suspicions that Ort?z was targeted either in retaliation for something he did ? or to send a
message. In the case of such a connection, the state would turn over authority to the Mexican Attorney General's Office.
No arrests had been made as of yesterday, although state, local and federal police were searching for suspects. A special team of federal
investigators from Mexico City was said to have arrived in Tijuana yesterday, though that couldn't be officially confirmed.
Crime experts and others in Tijuana continued to speculate that professional criminals, such as drug traffickers, were responsible.
Most of the paper's hard-hitting articles have been written by the weekly's top editor, Jes?s Blancornelas, who was badly wounded in a shooting
orchestrated by suspected drug traffickers seven years ago.
Ort?z had a more restrained journalistic style, but one theory circulating is that he may have been singled out to send a message to the publication.
Ort?z, who was in his 40s, helped start Zeta in 1980 and had served as a member of the editorial board since 1988.
He was attacked just before noon Tuesday, while he was sitting in his car with his two young children. A masked assailant fired four bullets into his
face and neck, killing him instantly, state police said. The children were not wounded.
Any suspects connected to the death of Ort?z will probably be flown to Mexico City for further interrogation by federal investigators who specialize
in organized crime investigations. In such cases, the legal process doesn't usually take place in Tijuana.
The most recent tally of organized crime victims dates from 2002: Approximately 90 of 261 slayings in the Tijuana region that year were believed a
result of organized crime, according to the late Baja California Assistant Attorney General Rogelio Delgado Neri.
The Tijuana region includes Rosarito Beach and Tecate.
Delgado himself became part of that list. He was gunned down earlier this year in a popular Tijuana bar a few months after he stepped down from his
post. Mexican federal authorities linked the Arellano F?lix cartel to his death, just as they have linked the cartel to the 1997 attempted killing of
Zeta editor Blancornelas.
The Arellanos were the primary drug trafficking group in the region for years. However, the cartel has come under siege from rival drug traffickers
following a string of arrests in recent years of Arellano leaders and gunmen.
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Drug links alleged in editor's slaying
http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?sto...
06/26/2004
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) -- Two reputed drug lords being held at a maximum-security prison may have conspired to have a newspaper editor shot to death,
the weekly newspaper Zeta suggested Friday in its first edition since the slaying.
That theory was one of three offered by Zeta for the killing of one of its chief editors and co-founders, Francisco Ortiz, who was shot four times at
close range as he sat in the driver's seat of his car Tuesday afternoon.
The newspaper has a reputation for hard-hitting stories on drug trafficking, people smuggling and corruption.
In an eight-page report on the killing, Zeta publisher Jesus Blancornelas said his suspicions fall on military deserters called "Los Zetas," who work
for alleged drug cartel leader Osiel Card##as; the Barrio Logan gang linked to the Arellano Felix drug smuggling gang; and betting facility owner
Jorge Hank Rhon, some of whose bodyguards were involved in the 1988 slaying of another of the newspaper's founders.
"We are saying these people are suspects for this reason and this reason," Blancornelas said during an interview with The Associated Press at Zeta's
modest offices. "But we aren't accusing anyone. Possibly, in the future, we will have the proof and the evidence necessary to do so."
The newspaper's report said that Card##as "has now had much contact" with Benjamin Arellano Felix, accused of being the operations chief of the
Tijauna-based smuggling syndicate bearing his family's name.
Both men are awaiting trial on organized crime and drug charges at the La Palma maximum-security prison west of Mexico City and Blancornelas suggested
Card##as could have had Los Zetas do a favor for Arellano Felix.
The name of Blancornelas' newspaper, which was founded in 1980, means the letter "Z" in Spanish and is not related to the "Los Zetas" gang.
Blancornelas himself was badly wounded and his bodyguard killed in a 1997 shooting involving gunmen with links to the Arellano Felix gang.
Friday's article also reported that at least one member of the Barrio Logan gang, named for a neighborhood across the border in San Diego, California,
was standing near Ortiz's car and gave a hand signal just before the shooting. The group allegedly has links to the Arellano Felix organization.
Authorities on Thursday arrested alleged drug hit man Mario Alberto Rivera Lopez, along with three other men and four women, and seized a cache of
high-powered weapons after a shootout in Tijuana. Rivera is being held in Mexico City.
Federal Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said Rivera's method of operating resembled that used to kill Ortiz.
Blancornelas applauded the arrests, but said during the interview he didn't think Rivera was involved in Ortiz's killing.
"The newspaper is going to continue working independently," he said. "We are not going to rely on what the police say."
Blancornelas said forensic evidence pointed away from members of the Arellano Felix gang, who he said usually spray bullets from Kalashnikov rifles at
a longer range.
"Few times has Tijuana seen an execution like this one," he said, referring to Ortiz's slaying.
Blancornelas suggested that Hank Rhon might have a motive because Ortiz had been involved in a state-sponsored review of the evidence in the 1988
slaying of Hector Felix Miranda, a columnist who founded Zeta with Ortiz and Blancornelas.
A member of Hank Rhon's security staff was convicted in that slaying and every week since, Zeta has run a full-page advertisement asking: "Jorge Hank
Rhon: Why did your bodyguard Antonio Vera Palestina kill me?"
Blancornelas said Hank Rhon was the only person mentioned both by Zeta and federal investigators as a possible suspect in the Ortiz killing.
"Mr. Ortiz was involved in the revision of the case of Felix Miranda, an investigation looking for the person who ordered our colleague's killing in
1988," he said. "That revision was a problem for some, including Jorge Hank Rhon."
Hank Rhon, who is running for Tijuana mayor in Aug. 1 elections and is part of a prominent Mexican political family, has denied any link to Ortiz's
killing or any other slayings. In an interview earlier this week, he dismissed parallels between the two cases.
"Years ago there was an attack on an editor and now they kill another one and they still want to link it to a case that absolutely isn't related," he
said.
Ortiz may have angered the Arellano Felix gang with an article published May 14, in which he alleged that top Arellano Felix gang members paid as much
as US$70,000 in bribes to obtain phony federal IDs from corrupt contacts at the attorney general's office. The newspaper ran the names and photos of
40 people with suspected ties to the gang as part of that report.
"They can attack us, but we will never change what we do," Blancornelas said. "We are not going to respond to a tragedy by being weak.
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A silenced free voice
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=23778
The crescendo of terrorist violence in Iraq ought not to distract us from a terrorist act carried out just across our southern border this week.
On Tuesday Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, editor of the muckraking Tijuana weekly Zeta, was leaving a physical therapy clinic with his two children
when he was attacked in his car.
Masked goons with automatic weapons shot him four times in the head and neck, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (www.cpj.org). Ortiz Franco?s children were left unharmed ? at least physically. But the wounds with which witnessing their father?s brutal death
left them aren?t the kind that heal soon, if ever.
Zeta?s expos?s of drug lords and corrupt politicians have drawn fire ? literally ? twice before. In 1988 its co-founder Hector Felix Miranda was shot
to death, and nine years later co-founder and publisher Jesus Blancornelas was wounded in an assassination attempt.
Nor is Zeta the only Mexican newspaper whose editors have been targeted. In March, the body of Roberto Javier Mora Garcia, executive editor of El
Ma?ana in Nuevo Laredo, was found with more than 25 knife wounds outside of his home. Mora Garcia often ran stories on the Gulf drug cartel on his
front page.
Mexican President Vicente Fox told a group of newspaper editors Thursday that ??It is urgent that we take action, and with force.?? It appears that he
was as good as his word, given the capture in a Tijuana shootout that day of a heavily armed gang linked to the Arellano Felix drug cartel to which
Blancornelas? assailants also had ties.
But Mexico clearly has a long way to go in ensuring the safety of journalists ? an urgent necessity, given the role of the press in combating the
endemic corruption and criminality that have long blighted it.
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Authorities link alleged hit man, editor's slaying
http://www.charleston.net/stories/062604/wor_26mexico.shtml
June 26, 2004
Associated Press
TIJUANA, MEXICO--A reputed drug hit man collared after a wild chase and shootout in the border city of Tijuana may have had a hand in the
gangland-style execution of newspaper editor Francisco Ortiz, authorities said. Mario Alberto Rivera Lopez was arrested and flown to Mexico City on
Thursday. Federal agents also captured three other men and four women and recovered high-powered weapons including a machine gun designed to pierce
light armor.
Federal Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said authorities suspect that Rivera Lopez is the head of a squad of assassins affiliated with the
Arellano Felix drug-smuggling gang, which is based in Tijuana.
The attorney general said the group "could have possible links" to the killing of Ortiz, who was shot four times Tuesday afternoon. The 47-year-old
was an editor and co-founder of Zeta, a muckraking weekly with a reputation for hard-hitting stories on drug trafficking, people smuggling and
corruption.
"Because of the way in which this homicide (of Ortiz) was handled, we believe it was this organization" that killed him, Macedo said, though he could
not specify whether the men arrested Thursday were directly involved.
A 1997 shooting that nearly killed Zeta's publisher, Jesus Blancornelas, involved men reputedly linked to the Arellano Felix gang.
Zeta on Friday published its first issue since the slaying and listed on its cover three suspects in Ortiz's slaying: a group of military deserters
called "Los Zetas," who work for alleged drug capo Osiel Card##as; the Barrio Logan gang linked to the Arellano Felix group; and Jorge Hank Rhon, some
of whose bodyguards were involved in the 1988 slaying of the newspaper's founder.
Earlier this week, Hank Rhon said the suggestion he might be involved was "a lot of bull."
The newspaper said the gun used in Ortiz's slaying was similar to those favored by the Zetas rather than by the Barrio Logan gang, a San Diego-based
group that has been used by Tijuana cartels, according to investigators.
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