Not a day goes by without some new horror in Mexico. The media have again been targeted in with armed attacks on two newspapers in the past four days and, a week ago, the murder of a former reporter who was supporting a presidential candidate’s campaign. Will it be possible to hold normal elections on 1 July amid such violence?

“With just a month and a half to go to federal elections to choose a president and fill other important posts, we call for an immediate end to the federal offensive against drug trafficking (http://en.rsf.org/mexique-basta-de-sangre-no-sangre-campaign-11-02-2011,39540.html), in which the toll currently stands at more than 50,000 dead,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“The only thing that this undeclared war has achieved is to increase the endemic violence. To continue the offensive will just jeopardize the electoral process and the necessary public debate that depends on the participation of journalists and civil society actors.”

Self-censorship seems to have become the only defence for news media that are more exposed than ever to bombings and armed attacks. The latest target was El Mañana, a newspaper based in Nuevo Laredo (in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas), which was attacked on the night of 11 May. Shots were fired at the building’s facade and car park, and a small explosive device was thrown at the building, the paper reported (http://www.elmanana.com.mx/notas.asp?id=285342).

A member of El Mañana’s staff confirmed to Reporters Without Borders that at least six vehicles in the car park received bullet impacts. The interior ministry announced the next day that the newspaper would get federal protection. The newspaper and its staff have been the target of armed attacks in the past (http://en.rsf.org/mexico-journalist-seriously-injured-in-08-02- 2006,16392.html) and the 2004 murder of its editor, Roberto Mora (http://en.rsf.org/mexico- joint-mission-investigates-mora-28-04-2004,09585.html), is still unpunished.

In Reynosa, also in Tamaulipas state, the premises of the newspaper Hora Cero were evacuated on 8 May after an anonymous caller warned that an attack was imminent. A few minutes later, six hooded gunmen open fire on the empty building. Incomprehensibly, the Tamaulipas State Attorney-General’s Office (PGJE) initially denied that any attack had taken place.

From journalism to politics

Former reporter René Orta Salgado’s body was found in the trunk of his car in Cuernavaca, in the central state of Morelos, on 13 May, three days after his family reported him missing. His face was covered by a cloth and his body had the marks of blows from a blunt object. The cause of death is thought to have been suffocation.