martes, 28 de julio de 2009

Article 19 advierte sobre restricción a la libertad de expresión y creciente tensión social en Honduras


La Dra. Agnés Callamard, directora ejecutiva de ARTICLE 19, presento en CENCOS un informe de su reciente viaje a Honduras sobre la situación de la libertad de expresión en el país a un mes del golpe de estado. Señalo que los periodistas y medios críticos al gobierno de facto, tanto locales como internacionales, realizan su trabajo bajo presión, amenazas y tienen acceso restringido a las zonas conflictivas, así también los movimientos sociales, líderes políticos y defensores derechos humanos están siendo intimidados.

"Tensión social, aumento en la confrontación de opiniones, polarización, información facciosa y manipulada, censura: todos los elementos están ahí para llegar a una crisis de mayores proporciones en Honduras" advirtió la Dra. Callamard
En su visita de trabajo noto un alto grado de violencia e inseguridad para el ejercicio profesional del periodismo en ambos bandos: si Radio Globo o Canal 36 son percibidos como parte del "movimiento de resistencia" y ven coartadas sus acciones por amenazas a la integridad de sus periodistas, algunos de los medios que están asociados con el grupo a favor del gobierno de facto también son objeto de agresiones, pero por parte de los manifestantes pro-Zelaya (Tribuna, Heraldo y Televicentro).

Lo lamentable de esto es que la falta de seguridad para ejercer el trabajo informativo ha orillado a diversos medios a no cubrir los hechos que ocurren en la frontera de Nicaragua y Honduras (Las Manos y Paraíso), particularmente en la televisión, precisa el comunicado de ARTICLE 19.
Una forma de censura eficaz por parte de las fuerzas armadas fue cerrar temporalmente estaciones de radio (Radio Globo) y televisión, y bloquear las señales de cadenas internacionales (CNN, Cubavision y Telesur) a fin de "moderar las opiniones" y para que no se use el término "golpe de estado", pero el movimiento de resistencia, que no esta bien organizado en opinión de Callamard, esta protegiendo a estos medios y algunos programas han optado por trasmitir vía internet su contenido ante el retiro o disminución de sus anunciantes.

Los principales medios dando voz a los disidentes son Radio Globo, Radio Reloj, Radio Progreso, Canal 6, 11 y 36, aunque periodistas entrevistados por ARTICLE 19 admitieron una práctica de auto censura generalizada y la adopción del criterio de su empleador al momento de informar a la comunidad.
ARTICLE 19 recomienda a ambos lados del conflicto a comprometerse con el proceso de mediación de "San José" para lograr una solución pacífica al conflicto reconociendo el derecho de todos a expresar su opinión y el derecho de los medios de comunicación a informar de manera libre, sin amenazas, intimidaciones, agresiones o censura. Así mismo hacen un llamado para ejecutar las 46 medidas cautelares otorgadas por la Comisión Inter-Americana de Derechos Humanos en particular para proteger a los actores en riego de amenaza por parte del estado de facto y agentes particuares: C-LIBRE, Ciprodech, Cofradeh, Code, CEMIH, Centro de Derechos de la Mujer, Telvicentro, Canal 11, Radio Globo, Canal 36, The Tribune, Heraldo; medios locales y comunitarios en general.

Para mayor información contactar a: Ricardo González, Ricardo@article19.org

7 comentarios:

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

Alleged Mexican Cartel Leaders, Associates Targeted in Newest Effort to Combat Drug Trafficking Organizations

JULY 20 - (WASHINGTON DC) - Today the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury announced coordinated actions against the Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas drug trafficking organization, now known as the "Company," in the latest in a series of efforts by the U.S. government to neutralize and dismantle this violent cartel.

Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez, Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano and Miguel Trevino-Morales, high-level Mexican leaders of the Company and 15 of their top lieutenants, have been charged in U.S. federal courts with drug trafficking-related crimes. Also today, the State Department announced rewards of up to $50 million, collectively, for information leading to the capture of 10 of these defendants, including the four leaders who were also specially designated as Narcotics Kingpins today by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

"These indictments allege a stunning and sophisticated operation by the Company to move illegal drugs into our communities and cash back to Mexico," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. "We have learned that the most effective way to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations is to prosecute their leaders and seize their funding. Today's coordinated actions by the Departments of Justice, State and Treasury will serve not only to bring these individuals to justice, but also to significantly slow the flow of cash that is so vital to cartel operations. These actions are also the result of our strong partnership with Mexican Attorney General Medina Mora, Secretary of Public Security Garcia Luna and other Mexican officials. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our brave Mexican colleagues in the fight against these destructive cartels."

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

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"Violent drug trafficking organizations represent a threat to the health and safety of people in Mexico and the U.S.," said Acting Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "These indictments and rewards prove our commitment to disrupting the cycle of drugs and associated violence that follow the cartels wherever they operate. I am especially proud of our DEA Houston and New York Divisions, whose investigations were the thrust behind the indictments of these offenders. With the help of the public, and in close coordination with the government of Mexico, they will be brought to justice."

"Following on the heels of the President's naming of Los Zetas as a drug kingpin organization in April, we are today targeting sanctions against four drug lords who are senior leaders in Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel," said OFAC Director Adam J. Szubin. "We remain committed to using all tools at our disposal to assist President Calderon in his courageous efforts against Mexico's deadly narcotics cartels."

Today, an indictment was unsealed in the Eastern District of New York charging Miguel Trevino-Morales with operating a continuing criminal enterprise, international cocaine distribution and firearms violations. The indictment also contains a $1 billion forfeiture allegation. If convicted on all charges, he faces life in prison. Miguel Trevino-Morales is a principal leader of Los Zetas, originally a security force used by the Gulf Cartel. The Zetas, whose origin includes former members of the Air Mobile Special Forces Group of the Mexican military, have evolved into not only a security force but a drug trafficking organization in their own right.

In addition, a three-count superseding indictment returned June 9, 2009, in the District of Columbia charges the four leaders and 15 other alleged cartel members with conspiracy to possess with intent to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States and two counts of possession with intent to import cocaine into the United States. Cardenas-Guillen, Costilla-Sanchez and Lazcano-Lazcano are Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Consolidated Priority Organization Targets (CPOTs). Conviction on any count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

According to the superseding indictment, the Company was led primarily by a governing council, or triumvirate, which consisted of Cardenas-Guillen, Costilla-Sanchez and Lazcano-Lazcano. The indictment alleges the Company has operated along the U.S./Mexico border, dividing the territory into areas known as "plazas" and assigning each plaza region a leader known as the "plaza boss." The superseding indictment alleges Cardenas-Guillen, Costilla-Sanchez and Lazcano-Lazcano directed the Company's cocaine and marijuana shipments via boats, planes and cars from Colombia and Venezuela to Guatemala, as well as to various cities and "plazas" in Mexico. From Mexico, the drugs were then shipped into cities in Texas for distribution to other cities in the United States.

The Company allegedly used sophisticated record keeping programs to track shipping, employment, payroll and payments made to law enforcement officials as well as payments received and owed. The superseding indictment alleges that the defendants discussed, among other things, supply issues, debt collection, pricing for the drugs in specific areas, bonus structures for individuals working at the "plazas," concealment of the drugs during transportation, methods of shipment from Mexico to Texas, seizures of shipments and locations along the U.S./Mexico border where defendants allegedly believed the drugs could move more freely and control of law enforcement in certain areas.

Cardenas-Guillen, Costilla-Sanchez and Lazcano-Lazcano were previously charged with drug trafficking crimes in 2008 in two separate indictments returned in the District of Columbia cases. The other previously charged defendants, included in the superseding indictment, are Jaime Gonzales-Duran; Samuel Flores-Borrego; Mario Ramirez-Trevino; Alfredo Rangel-Buendia; FNU LNU, aka Lino; Gilberto Barragan-Balderas; Juan Reyes Mejia-Gonzales; Omar Trevino-Morales; Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar; Alfonso Lam-Liu; Eleazar Medina-Rojas; and Aurelio Cano-Flores. The superseding indictment also added the following defendants: Carlos Cerda-Gonzalez, Victor Hugo Lopez-Valdez and Sigifredo Najera-Talamantes.

Costilla-Sanchez is also charged, along with Osiel Cardenas-Guillen and eight others, in a 17-count superseding indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas in April 2002 with conspiracy to import and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, conspiracy to launder drug money and threatening to assault a federal officer. A State Department reward of up to $5 million has previously been offered for information leading to the arrest of Costilla-Sanchez.

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, along with 13 others, is also charged in a 10-count indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas in December 2002 with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to launder drug money. Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen is alleged to have controlled a cocaine and money laundering organization in Matamoros, Mexico, with multiple cells in Houston that warehoused, transported and distributed multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and laundered millions of dollars in drug proceeds that were smuggled into Mexico beginning in 1998.

Members of the Company on the DEA Most-Wanted List are also subjects of rewards, up to $5 million each, offered by the State Department through the Narcotics Rewards Program for information leading to these individuals' arrest. They include:
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Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

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Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano (AKA El Verdugo, El Lazca, Laz, Catorce and Licenciado)
Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen (AKA Ezequiel Cardenas-Guillen, Marcos Ledezma, Tony Tormenta and Licenciado)
Miguel Angel Trevino-Morales (AKA 40, Cuarenta, L-40, David Estrada-Corado and Comandante Forty)
Alejandro Trevino-Morales (AKA 42, Omar and Comandante Forty Two)
Juan Reyes Mejia-Gonzalez (AKA R-1, Kike, Kiki, Quique)
Mario Ramirez-Trevino (AKA Mario Armando Ramirez-Trevino, X-20, Mario Pelon and Pelon)
Gilberto Barragan-Balderas (AKA Heriberto and Tocayo)
Jesus Enrique Rejon-Aguilar (AKA Mamito, Caballero and David Enrique Cruz-Maldonado)
Samuel Flores-Borrego (AKA Metro Tres, Tres, M Three, El Cabezon, Metro Three and Commander Tres)
Aurelio Cano-Flores (AKA Yankee and Yeyo. Now in custody).

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

Since the inception of the Narcotics Rewards Program in the 1980s, the Department of State has paid more than $44 million in rewards to individuals whose information helped bring to justice many major violators of U.S. drug laws who were responsible for importing hundreds of tons of illegal narcotics into the United States each year. In addition, the Mexican Attorney General's Office previously announced rewards of up to $2.4 million (30,000,000 pesos), per individual, for information leading to the capture of Costilla-Sanchez, Cardenas-Guillen, Lazcano-Lazcano and Miguel Trevino-Morales.

In support of the coordinated U.S. government effort against this organization, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's OFAC today designated Costilla-Sanchez, Cardenas-Guillen, Lazcano-Lazcano and Miguel Trevino-Morales as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers through the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). Today's designation action freezes any assets the individuals may have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits U.S. persons from conducting transactions or dealings in the property interests of the designated individuals and entities. Penalties for violations of the Kingpin Act range from civil penalties of up to $1,075,000 per violation to more severe criminal penalties. Criminal penalties for corporate officers may include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Criminal fines for corporations may reach $10 million. Other individuals face up to 10 years in prison and fines for criminal violations of the Kingpin Act. On April 15, 2009, the President designated Los Zetas as a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker Kingpin organization. ...

During the coordinated investigation that led to the superseding indictment in the District of Columbia being returned, foreign law enforcement seized substantial amounts of drugs belonging to this organization. Among the shipments intercepted was a 2,400 kilogram cocaine shipment intercepted and seized in Panama on Nov. 30, 2007. On Oct. 5, 2007, Mexican authorities seized an 11.7 ton load of cocaine, which was (at the time) the largest cocaine seizure in Mexican history. On Oct. 16, 2008, Mexican law enforcement agents seized more than 9,000 kilograms of marijuana belonging to the Company in Guadalupe, Mexico.

In September 2008, the Department announced the arrests of more than 175 alleged Gulf Cartel members and associates in Project Reckoning, a multi-agency international law enforcement effort that targeted key leadership elements of this organization. That effort is continuing through the coordinated multi-agency initiatives and developments announced today. To date, Project Reckoning has resulted in more than 620 arrests and the seizure of more than $84 million in U.S. currency, multiple tons of illegal drugs and 934 weapons.

The case is being investigated by the DEA Houston Office in coordination with the Special Operations Division, comprised of agents, analysts and attorneys from NDDS, DEA, FBI, ICE, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and Internal Revenue Service.

For more information on the Most-Wanted list, please visit: www.dea.gov. For more information about the Narcotics Reward Program, please visit: www.state.gov. For more information on Kingpin Act designations, please visit: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/narco/narco.shtml.

The DEA Houston Field Division has created an interagency Task Force, as part of the Houston Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force, whose primary responsibility is coordinating and focusing interagency efforts in a multifaceted attack on the cartel. The Task Force has established an e-mail address, GULFTF@USDOJ.GOV, and toll-free phone line, 877-800-1323, for the reporting of information concerning the Company

Federico Campbell Peña dijo...

CAMPAÑA NACIONAL SIN MAIZ NO HAY PAIS
RED MEXICANA DE ACCION FRENTE AL LIBRE COMERCIO


Los días 9 y 10 de agosto del 2009 se reunirán en Guadalajara, Jalisco, Felipe Calderón, Barack Obama y Stephen Harper, en el marco de la Cumbre de Líderes de América del Norte. En dicha reunión se presume serán tratados la competitividad regional, energía, medio ambiente y asuntos relativos a la Iniciativa Mérida, entre otros temas.

En este contexto las organizaciones que integran la Campaña Sin Maíz No Hay País y la Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio, junto a otras redes y organizaciones nacionales de Estados Unidos y Canadá, están promoviendo la realización de algunos eventos alternos frente a la mencionada Cumbre. Eventos en los que resulta primordial que se vinculen y articulen redes, organizaciones y ciudadan@s.

Por tal motivo se invita a redes, organizaciones, grupos, compañeras y compañeros interesados, a participar en la:


REUNION DE INFORMACION Y ORGANIZACION DE EVENTOS ALTERNOS A LA CUMBRE TRINACIONAL DE LA ASPAN:


Que se llevará a cabo el viernes, 31 de julio a partir de las 17 horas, en las instalaciones de la Asociación Nacional de Empresas Comercializadoras de Productores del Campo (ANEC), que se ubican en la calle Pedro Luis Ogazón, número 18, colonia Guadalupe Inn. Cerca Metrobus Alvaro Obregon