You’ll find a lot of my blog entries will be about Mexico, and specifically about the major drug cartels and their battle for control. I’ve been writing a series about a DEA agent up against a Colombian drug lord that takes them into the no-man’s land of Mexican cartels. They say “write what you know” which meant I had to do a whole lot of research. I never set out to be come a SME in this field but there were so many tangents that begged me to follow them, so many voices of the dead to be heard and recorded. It’s definitely not a subject for the faint of heart. It’s scary business. Which is why you will also find my posts about the journalists who risk their lives to cover these stories, and why I carry their stories further.
In the battleground of Mexico, freedoms we take for granted, the freedom of speech and of the press, have been taken from the people by the cartels. Mexico is considered the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, because to write a story about the cartels, to honestly cover and report on their dealings, is to write your own death warrant. Journalists and their families are hunted down and murdered for reporting on the cartels. This is very real, and impossible for the country to fight from within. One story that caught my attention just over a year ago (from an article by Chivis Martinez in Borderland Beat) was about a young Mexican journalist who went missing since January with her young son. Stephania Cardosa didn’t cover stories about narcotics or cartels, however. Her beat was mundane. Mostly traffic issues. And yet, she appeared to have been selected to send a message. “She is a crime reporter, but I could not find any articles with narco crimes or narco activity as her subject. Many were of traffic accidents … after unsuccessful attempts to reach Cardoso, her family went to her home to check on her. When they arrived at the home they discovered Cardoso and her toddler son were missing. The home had been thrashed, with her belongs scattered about and her camera broken on the floor. Her vehicle is also missing.” http://www.borderlandbeat.com/
An update to the story by reporter Chivis Martinez revealed Stephania and her son were alive but in hiding, and in fear for their lives. In the update, he said of Cardosa “She knows that many people are concerned for them, but for their safety she cannot communicate with anyone nor her family. She asks the Federals of Mexico for protection not only for her and her son but for her family.” For all the Stephanias out there, thank you. We’re watching. We’re reading.
Issues and Intersections 