Editor of crusading Tijuana newspaper steps down
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060403-9...
By Sandra Dibble
April 3, 2006
TIJUANA ? Citing his health and security as concerns, Jes?s Blancornelas has stepped down from his position as editor-in-chief of Zeta, the crusading
weekly newspaper he co-founded 26 years ago.
Blancornelas, 69, is succeeded by two longtime staff members who had been serving as his top deputies: Ren? Blanco Villal?n, 34, a photographer who is
Blancornelas' youngest son; and Adela Navarro Bello, 37, a writer and editor who joined the weekly in 1990.
?We're not going to change our approach,? Navarro said in an interview last week. ?The only style of journalism that we know is what Blancornelas
taught us, investigation and analysis of what is happening in Baja California and in the country.?
Blancornelas remains on the Zeta masthead as founding editor and continues to contribute articles to the newspaper, but he no longer will be making
administrative and editorial decisions, Navarro said, and will no longer work out of Zeta's offices in a residential section of Tijuana.
At the helm of Zeta, Blancornelas received numerous journalism awards for the newspaper's expos?s of corruption and drug trafficking. The coverage
came at a steep cost.
In 1988, Zeta co-founder H?ctor F?lix Miranda was shot and killed; two employees of Jorge Hank Rhon, who is now Tijuana's mayor, were convicted of the
crime. Since F?lix Miranda's death, Zeta has printed a page each week with this question: ?Jorge Hank Rhon, why did your bodyguard kill me? ? H?ctor
'Gato' F?lix Miranda.? Hank Rhon has repeatedly denied any connection to the crime.
Blancornelas himself survived an assassination attempt in 1997, but his bodyguard, Luis Lauro Valero, was killed, and Blancornelas has since moved
about the city only under heavy guard.
In June 2004, an editor, Francisco Ort?z Franco, was shot to death following an article about suspected members of the Arellano Felix drug cartel. His
brother, Lauro Ortiz Aguilera, is now Zeta's news editor.
The changes at Zeta have been in effect since Feb. 28.
?These have been many years behind the desk with much responsibility,? Blancornelas said as he passed the reins to his two successors, according to an
article in the March 3 edition of Zeta. ?My age and my physical condition are no longer the same.?
In the article, Blancornelas said he wanted to allow a new generation to step in but would keep reporting and working on nonfiction books. The article
also said Blancornelas would ?concentrate on medical treatments that for health reasons he must take constantly.?
In an e-mail this week, Blancornelas referred further queries to Zeta's new editors.
?We are not going to shy away from drug trafficking,? Navarro said. ?We are going to write about drug trafficking just as we are going to write about
government when the news dictates it.?
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
