Gunmen fire at newspaper and television station in Juarez
Authorities are investigating drive-by shootings at the leading newspaper and television station in the border city Juarez. Nobody was injured, but many news organizations are on edge.
“Some think it might be an attack on all media,” said Pedro Torres, editor of the Diario de Juarez. “They may have used us as an example.”
The front of the newspaper’s building is riddled with seven bullet holes. A security camera captured the van used in the attack as it drove by and gunmen fired from an open door.
A short while later, shots were fired at the front of Channel 44 in Juarez. On the evening newscast the station’s president talked about the drive-by shooting.
“I want to tell both those who did this, and those who are worried about this incident that this company will continue to operate the same,” said Arnoldo Cabada, Channel 44 president.
State and federal police have increased patrols outside the station and newspaper buildings.
It’s not clear if it is the attacks are isolated or part of a larger attempt to intimidate local media.
“There was no threat before and no message after,” said Torres.
In recent weeks there has been a series of attacks on news organizations in Mexico in areas with a lot of drug violence.
On Sunday, the editor of a news website in Ojinaga was murdered in the city bordering Presidio, Texas. And the Mexican newspaper El Siglo de Torreon suffered a third armed attack on Feb. 27.
Gunmen killed a bystander and injured two people, including a federal police officer outside the building. Weeks earlier, armed men abducted five of the newspaper’s employees.
During the height of the drug war in Juarez a reporter and photographer working for the Diario de Juarez were gunned down. Those murders remain unsolved.
The killings have declined sharply in Juarez in recent months, but the latest attacks remind those who cover the news they can still become part of the story.
