New From Mexico Reporter

Mexico Reporter has two new troubling posts. The first, published today, reports on journalist Lydia Cacho and the Mexican Supreme Court. Cacho (background here and here) apparently made waves last night by announcing in Mexico City that all six Supreme Court judges presiding over her case against Puebla Governor Mario Marin had been bribed.

Next up on Mexico Reporter, a spate of violence against journalists the past week continues to make Mexico one of the most dangerous countries for journalists behind Iraq.

I'd say happy reading, but nothing very uplifting about any of that. It's worth checking out all the same.

Fallout From Supreme Court Ruling in Puebla

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, in a country so dominated by macho culture, Mexico has a Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women. At least, Mexico did have a Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women, until this week.

Anna Maria Salazar reported Monday:

And the Supreme Court’s decision practically absolving Puebla governor Mario Marín in the Lydia Cacho case continues to spark discontent.The Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women, Alicia Pérez Duarte, resigned saying she could no longer continue with her work after the ruling by the Court. And a group of children and adults threw eggs at the Supreme Court also as a protest in the Mario Marín ruling.

For background on the Lydia Cacho case, read this from Mexico Reporter. As for egg throwing, you've got to love an activist culture.

More From Puebla

Here's an English language version of events unfolding this week in the case of reporter Lydia Cacho v. The Man. In a nutshell, the governor was recorded in a compromising phone call, but the recording was made without a warrant, so the whole thing is a wash. Headline reads "Cacho's rights not violated enough."

New Development in Puebla Journalist Case

Cancel the hooplah about the Mexico Supreme Court stepping out for reporters' rights and, by extension, human rights. Mexico Reporter tells us there appear to have been some second thoughts.

My question: if the court has concluded that there will not in fact be any investigation into the governor of Puebla:

Reports just breaking say that the Mexican Supreme court has concluded that Puebla governor Mario Marin will in fact NOT be investigated following accusations from investigative journalist Lydia Cacho that he was part of a child pornography ring.

then is is possible there was a misinterpretation regarding the previously announced guilty status of the governor and his associates?

Puebla state authorities have been found guilty by the Supreme Court in Mexico of violating the rights of investigative journalist Lydia Cacho, who was arrested by Puebla police in December 2005 after publishing a book about a pedophile ring in Cancun. [snip] The Supreme court found that Governor Mario Marin and 29 other state officials played a role in the events that took place in December 2005, in which Cacho was arrested by police from Puebla in Cancun, taken to a pier and told to jump and then illegally detained. During that detention she says that she was subjected to torture and attempted rape.

The language is unclear to me. In the first instance, "Puebla state authorities have been found guilty . . . ." That's pretty decisive. In the second, however, the language is less specific. " . . . Marin and 29 other state officials played a role in events. . . ."

Either way, I'm not sure what the penalties involved in this sort of thing could be. Is there really any chance to prosecute corruption in Mexico? Seems slim.

More on this to come, I'm sure.

Trendsetting?

Is the Mexican Supreme Court getting serious about protecting human rights? From Mexico Reporter, a story out of Puebla about the illegal detention, torture and attempted rape of reporter Lydia Cacho in 2005 may have state governments feeling a little, well, nervous.

On a side note, I did not know that Reporters Without Borders ranked Mexico the second most dangerous nation for reporters in 2006, behind only Iraq.