3 Mexican Journalists Seek U.S. Asylum

[High_Gravity]

3 Mexican Journalists Seek U.S. Asylum

(LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.) — Three Mexican journalists facing death threats in their native country urged the U.S. government Wednesday to speed up approval of their asylum petitions.

Emilio Gutierrez Soto said he first received threats in 2005 after writing stories about alleged military involvement in drug trafficking in the northern state of Chihuahua. Two years later, his house was ransacked, and he received more threats. After filing complaints with the national government and getting little response, he fled the country in 2008 with his 15-year-old son.

Gutierrez was held for more than seven months in a U.S. immigration detention center, until his story was aired on national television. His son was held for four months. The next hearing in his case is not likely to happen before 2012.

Gutierrez called the drug war a cancer destroying his country, during a panel discussion at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' annual meeting in the central Florida suburb of Lake Buena Vista. The former reporter for Ciudad Juarez's El Diario newspaper said losing his country was harder even than the death of his parents. He pleaded with the U.S. government to make a decision in his case and those of his fellow journalists. "We are living in a legal limbo," said Gutierrez, who has a temporary work permit but has yet to find a job. "We are unable to have any emotional, familial or employment stability."

Reporter Ricardo Chavez Aldana, a native of Ciudad Juarez, attacked the drug cartels on his radio show until his nephews were killed outside their home. He says he and his wife, mother and son received repeated death threats until they crossed the border into El Paso, Texas. "I have covered more than 4,000 killings," he told the group the several hundred journalists gathered at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.
See pictures of Culiacán, the home of Mexico's drug-trafficking industry.


"They are destroying Mexico. They are killing children, pregnant women, "Chavez said, his voice breaking as he talked of the drug war in Mexico.

Alejandro Hernandez Pacheco was a TV cameraman for Televisa when he was kidnapped last July in Durango, Mexico along with three other reporters, allegedly by one of the country's largest drug cartels who demanded his station no longer broadcast stories about the gang. He was freed a week later and crossed the border in October.

Read more: Three Mexican Journalists Seek U.S. Asylum - TIME

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

Hey HG - are you angry because they are seeking asylum or because they need to?

 

[High_Gravity]

Hey HG - are you angry because they are seeking asylum or because they need to?

I'm angry because the situation in Mexico is fucked up, and when people see these asylum packages get approved we are going to be flooded with Mexicans looking for the same thing, after all aren't all the people in Mexico in danger of being killed by the cartels? they basically run the country and are fighting each other over turf and drugs, so technically you could say all people in the country are in danger and qualify for asylum.

 

[High_Gravity]

Again I am not racist against Mexicans or anything, I just think this asylum loophole can be used by quite a few people down in Mexico since they are all in danger from the cartels, anyone not in their pocket can make a case for asylum in the US.

 

[charles brough]

Why not grant it? After all, we are responsible for the drug-war there and the thousands of lives already lost because of it. We are so ladened with pathetic addicts that those weeds they want finance a vast network of crooks in a country that was once safe and a delight to see. We are also burdened by gun addicts who have to have that authomatic rifle to protect them from others who might also have them. Then, the guns get sold and end up arming the Mexican drug gangs. We put this all on Mexico's shoulders; then we build hundreds of miles of fence to keep the victims of our recklessness from escaping across the border to safety. . .

 

[High_Gravity]

Why not grant it? After all, we are responsible for the drug-war there and the thousands of lives already lost because of it. We are so ladened with pathetic addicts that those weeds they want finance a vast network of crooks in a country that was once safe and a delight to see. We are also burdened by gun addicts who have to have that authomatic rifle to protect them from others who might also have them. Then, the guns get sold and end up arming the Mexican drug gangs. We put this all on Mexico's shoulders; then we build hundreds of miles of fence to keep the victims of our recklessness from escaping across the border to safety. . .

So just take in all the people in Mexico? yeah that makes sense.

 

[Kiki Cannoli]

ok, thanks. i was just curious.

 

[Nate]

Why not grant it? After all, we are responsible for the drug-war there and the thousands of lives already lost because of it. We are so ladened with pathetic addicts that those weeds they want finance a vast network of crooks in a country that was once safe and a delight to see. We are also burdened by gun addicts who have to have that authomatic rifle to protect them from others who might also have them. Then, the guns get sold and end up arming the Mexican drug gangs. We put this all on Mexico's shoulders; then we build hundreds of miles of fence to keep the victims of our recklessness from escaping across the border to safety. . .

Unfortunately Charles you are like so many others... More than happy to point out what's wrong but not offering anything constructive. Would you execute all drug offenders? Would you strip the 2nd amendment from the Constitution?
I will not deny that many of the problems we are seeing in Mexico is caused by the U.S. but Felipe Calderón is also at fault here. I haven't been able to prove it(and probably never will) but this man has to have close ties with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the primary contributors to the drugs flowing into the State! How can we help a country that doesn't want it?
As much as our government is at fault for ignoring what's happening South of our border their government is also at fault and can certainly be blamed for the massive migration of their people to our country.

 

[Angelhair]

These are people who have been dreaming for years and years of coming to the USA! Watch the flood of people seeking asylum now! Whoopie!!!!

 

[Angelhair]

Why not grant it? After all, we are responsible for the drug-war there and the thousands of lives already lost because of it. We are so ladened with pathetic addicts that those weeds they want finance a vast network of crooks in a country that was once safe and a delight to see. We are also burdened by gun addicts who have to have that authomatic rifle to protect them from others who might also have them. Then, the guns get sold and end up arming the Mexican drug gangs. We put this all on Mexico's shoulders; then we build hundreds of miles of fence to keep the victims of our recklessness from escaping across the border to safety. . .

But of course brough, blame it ALL on the 'evil' U.S. of A. Why not? That will give those miserable countries and their inept leaders more reason to sit back and do NOTHING. Hallelujah!!!

 

[José]

Originally posted by Nate
As much as our government is at fault for ignoring what's happening South of our border their government is also at fault and can certainly be blamed for the massive migration of their people to our country.

What's the difference between Mexico and all the other 100 and something third world countries that exist in the world, Nate?

They don't share a dry border with the USA, that's the only difference.

What kind of mentally retarded simpleton blames a country for its geography??

 

[José]

And one more thing... last time I checked there were no mexican troops patrolling the streets of Washington DC and no puppet government in the White House put in power by Mexico.

The only thing preventing the US government from deporting 10 million illegal mexicans is its own scandalous lack of political will (as well as opposition from segments of the american society).

 

[José]

PS = I don't blame the US for all the drug related violence its legion of drug addicts cause in Mexico. It's not the country's fault that it shares a border with Mexico.

I refuse to do to America what super patriotic american clowns do to Mexico:

Blaming a country for its geographic location on the planet.

 

[Nate]

Originally posted by Nate
As much as our government is at fault for ignoring what's happening South of our border their government is also at fault and can certainly be blamed for the massive migration of their people to our country.

What's the difference between Mexico and all the other 100 and something third world countries that exist in the world, Nate?

They don't share a dry border with the USA, that's the only difference.

What kind of mentally retarded simpleton blames a country for its geography??

Apparently, I must be a simpleton because I don't understand your question José... Who the fuck is blaming this migration on geography!?!
I noticed you only took the last sentence of my post and totally disregarded the rest, why? What's your agenda?

 

[waltky]

Journalists sons murdered in Mexico...

Mexican journalists' sons killed in northern city
May 5,`13 -- Two sons of a well-known journalism couple have been shot to death, authorities in a northern Mexico border state said Sunday.

Alfredo David Paramo, 21, and Diego Alejandro Paramo, 23, were followed by gunmen, intercepted at an intersection and killed as they were driving home about 4 a.m. Saturday in the state capital, Chihuahua state prosecutor's spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said. They were the sons of financial journalist David Paramo of TV Azteca and Martha Gonzalez Nicholson, who is editor of the newspaper Peso de Chihuahua.

Spokesman Gonzalez said the killings didn't appear to be connected to their parents' work as journalists. He gave no specifics on possible motives, however, saying only that the office was following "other lines of investigation."

President Enrique Pena Nieto instructed federal prosecutors to work with state authorities on the investigation and bring those responsible to justice, he said via his Twitter account. "My deepest condolences to journalists Martha Gonzalez and David Paramo for the irreparable loss of their children," Pena Nieto said in a tweet, joining several top government officials who sent condolences to the couple, including Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong.

Source

 

[Gracie]

This country was built on people fleeing tyranny. They came because we said "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Some come running to stay alive, along with their children.

These guys are not criminals or drug addicts or pond scum. They are journalists seeking refuge because they spoke out against those who are terrorizing them.

Let them in.


First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

[High_Gravity]

This country was built on people fleeing tyranny. They came because we said "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free". Some come running to stay alive, along with their children.

These guys are not criminals or drug addicts or pond scum. They are journalists seeking refuge because they spoke out against those who are terrorizing them.

Let them in.


First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

There are many good people in trouble all over the world in Africa, Korea, China, Central America, etc etc if we just start letting people in based on that we will be full to the brim.

 

[waltky]

More reporters are being killed in broad daylight...

Can Mexico save its journalists?
Mon, 03 Jul 2017: As more reporters are killed in broad daylight, activists insist the state must do more to protect them.

One was killed while resting in a hammock at a carwash. A second was dragged from his car and shot dead near the newspaper he had co-founded. When another was killed in front of her son, the criminals left a note: "For your long tongue". Journalists are being murdered in Mexico and this is nothing new. This is one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, rights groups say, and more die here than in any other nation at peace.

But even for a place so used to drugs-related violence and organised crime, the recent bloodshed has been shocking. Seven journalists have been killed in the country so far this year, most shot by gunmen in broad daylight. Yet virtually all cases of attacks on the press end up unsolved and, in many, corrupt officials are suspected of partnering with criminals. As the killings mount, is there anything that Mexico can do to save its journalists?

'A network of evil'

Miroslava Breach used to say that corrupt politicians were more dangerous than drug traffickers. For almost 30 years, she investigated cases in which authorities and criminals appeared to work hand in hand in her native state of Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. Last year, Miros, as friends called her, reported for the national newspaper La Jornada on the alleged links between organised crime and candidates standing in the local elections in several towns in western Chihuahua - some located on lucrative drug-trafficking routes.

For her enemies, she had crossed a line. "Sister, now I'm really scared," her sister Rosy recalled a tearful Breach saying, as threats had increased and regularly mentioned her children. Breach alerted the authorities but carried on, not knowing what else to do. "She said that against a network of evil there was nothing that could be done," Rosy said. Then last March, as Breach left home in the morning to take her 14-year-old son to school, gunmen shot her eight times. They left a note, reportedly carrying the initials of one of the bandits she had denounced and a message: "Por lengua larga," meaning for your long tongue.

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