Abstract
Former TV anchor Armando Cabada Alvídrez has recently taken over as mayor of Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez.
But earlier this year when Index on Censorship interviewed Armando Cabada Alvídrez, the mayor of the largest city in Chihuahua, he was feeling positive about journalist safety. “We have no information that alarms us now. Just imagine, I come from that profession. If I had any information that suggested that there is a risk for journalists, I would summon them and warn them. I would look after them,” he said at his office in Ciudad Juárez.
Prior to becoming mayor in October, Cabada was the best known TV anchor in the city and now argues the situation has improved.
Cabada added: “There is a closeness to journalists here. If journalists were to provide any information that suggested a risk for them, we would deal with it immediately. My colleagues in the media have understood very well the message of criminal groups. If you do your work professionally, if you don’t get involved with them, there is no reason to be in danger.”
Pressed on the question of danger, he added: “I can tell you that more than 90% of the homicides that have taken place since we took over have to do with those who dedicate themselves to this criminal business. This is why Juárez is a city that is safe for its visitors, despite the alert issued by the US State Department. It is safe for its own residents too, for good people, for those who do not dedicate themselves to that business, which is the great majority.”
Mexico was ranked 149th out of 180 countries in the Reporters without Borders’ 2016 World Press Freedom Index. It’s a country where media can be influenced by government money and attacks against journalists are common, but rarely investigated. The mayor argued that other areas in Mexico are worse for journalists. “In areas of the south or in Nuevo Laredo, for example, it is forbidden as a journalist to handle information about drug trafficking, because it can cost your life. Here, this is not the case. Luckily in Juárez this does not happen.”
But journalists are sceptical of the new mayor’s ability to make a difference. “The majority of attacks we receive come from the security forces, not from organised crime,” said Gabriela Minjares, one of the co-founders of the Juárez Journalists’ Network. In 2011, Minjares created the network, together with other female reporters, after two colleagues were killed. “There is a complicity: the police forces are permeated by organised crime. They have not been cleaned up.”
Index asked the mayor specifically about the role of the security forces in threatening journalists. He replied by saying that the times have changed.
“It is clear to me what kind of authorities we had at the time. They were policemen that literally worked for the delinquents, they were at the payroll of the criminals. Luckily, there was a purge.”
In 2007, drug cartels started fighting over local territory, because of the city’s strategic value on the smuggling routes from South America to the USA. At the height of the violence, in 2010, an average of 10 people were murdered every day. Kidnappings, carjacking and extortion also soared. Journalists were among the victims: four reporters were killed in Ciudad Juárez between 2008 and 2012, and many were intimidated and threatened. The Mexican government eventually deployed soldiers in armoured vehicles to patrol the city’s streets.
Cabada pointed out that he had personal experience of working as a journalist and being under pressure. In 2008 he started receiving death threats via email, which led to his flight across the border to El Paso, Texas.
“I was threatened because we did not change our editorial line,” claimed Cabada. TV station Canal 44 belonged to his family and became well known for its daily coverage of murders. It developed a system of mobile units that often reached murder scenes as quickly as the police.
“I had to take precautionary measures. I had to find an armoured vehicle for every time I crossed back into Ciudad Juárez. I had to take my family with me to the USA. We lost our freedom to live how we used to,” he said.
Cabada lived in El Paso for four years. During that time, he continued anchoring an evening newscast from a US studio. In January last year, Cabada announced he would run for mayor on an independent platform.
During his electoral campaign, “narcomantas” (usually large white bedsheets with painted messages, common in Mexico’s drug war) appeared, linking Cabada to a cartel. Cabada denied any links, though he said his wife was previously married to someone with links, albeit ones she was unaware of at the time. These accusations did not affect his campaign. He went on to earn 49% of the vote.
“My main commitment is to provide tranquility to all Juarenses [people from Ciudad Juárez]. It is my obligation as a mayor. It is not just for one particular group,” Cabada told Index.
He said he would keep up the fight against corruption within the police force, foster transparency and bring down murder rates. As for the US border, he was feeling positive about that too.
“We have an excellent relationship with US authorities on the other side of the border and collaborate with El Paso on border patrol issues. We have always had a life in common. We don’t have to worry.”
But Minjares doesn’t have much faith in Cabada, and she sees colleagues giving up on journalism. “Every time I hear that a colleague is leaving the profession, I feel sadness. It is a clear sign of how much our work conditions have deteriorated.”
Former TV anchor Armando Cabada Alvídrez at his new mayoral office in Ciudad Juárez. Several journalists have been murdered in recent years in the city
CREDIT: Melissa Lyttle/International Women’s Media Foundation
“Cabada always stayed on his set. He left for El Paso when violence flared up. There is a big difference between us reporters, the troop who always worked here, and him. I don’t consider him a journalist,” she said.
Cabada is now six months into his two years in office. He looks back at his days as an anchor with nostalgia. “It is easier to ask questions than to be questioned,” he said.
Whether that is the case is debatable. History paints a different picture when it comes to being a journalist in Ciudad Juárez. As for whether it can be the case moving forward, that will be partly up to Cabada.