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Fear And Freedom Of The Press

Mexico is a country of laws. Like the U.S., the laws are designed first and foremost to protect the property rights of its citizens. Mexico is a poorer country, and less populous; citizens are less rebellious in their personal attitudes. There is less pretense here than in the U.S. about exactly whom is served by the forces of Law and Order; less p.r. For many in the U.S., this translates into a false impression that we have more rights than they do; that our government is less repressive than theirs.

In order to believe this, we have to forget that some agencies and individuals at all levels of our government practice summary execution (Fred Hampton and other Black Panther leaders; the Philadelphia fire; the primetime wipeout of the Symbionese Liberation Army in Los Angeles; the recent killings in Idaho); that they tap our phones and read our mail; that they restrict our movements (travel to Cuba); that they conspire to ruin our lives and reputations (COINTELPRO) whenever they perceive our thoughts to be dangerous; that they unjustly convict innocent people and condemn them to death.

To be sure, the armed warfare that is occurring in the mountains of Mexico makes those places dangerous to be in, especially if your understanding of the situation is cloudy. Still, more people in Mexico City are killed every day while being robbed, than die of politically motivated violence in the entire nation. And, one must hasten to add, the mortality rate in Mexico City pales when compared to Washington DC or New York City, both smaller by far.

No doubt, people here are arrested without due process, tortured, made to sign confessions (sometimes true, sometimes not) and then either released, imprisoned, or killed, depending often on the status of the groups that support their cause. The October 1995 arrest and subsequent release of Fernando Yanez , said to be Commander German of the EZLN, is a case in point. We perceive "due process" as absent in Mexico, and while it is arguable that our process is better than theirs, it is also arguable that it is merely different. Further, the case of Rodney King and the routine abuse suffered by illegal immigrants demonstrate that for many, due process in the U.S. is still process overdue.

Foreigners who offend the government are sometimes summarily deported. However, Mexico has a long and solid tradition of offering asylum to political refugees even when they hold beliefs that offend the ruling class. Rigoberta Menchu the Guatemalan Nobel laureate is perhaps the most famous of these.

Having taken all this into account, I must now confess that yes, I am a little nervous when I say something in my articles that might offend some high official in the government. And I know that they are read by powerful people: for example, the chief economic advisor to (and a close friend and mentor of) the Governor of Oaxaca has my Internet home page in his quick reference bookmarks. I can only hope my U.S. Senator, Paul Wellstone, also is a reader. I know that I am read by a senior aide to one of my U.S. congresspersons. You never know when it might help to have a sympathetic ear in a high place.

On balance, though, I don't believe myself to be in much danger, for a variety of reasons:

I do not take part in local politics. I strongly believe that it is arrogant and condescending for someone who can get up and leave at any time to tell people who cannot, what to do. I understand the pressures that motivated the recently expulsed clerics in Chiapas. Theirs is a more demanding calling than is mine. For better or worse, I only have myself to look after; a wandering minstrel whose ragged song is sung in another country.

I do not write for the Mexican market. My articles, written in English, are meant to be read by my own countrymen (although I am aware that my readership includes some Mexicans).

Whenever I write about what I observe down here, I try to keep it in a context of how the policies and laws of my government affect the daily lives of the Mexicans and non-Mexicans among whom I live. I believe I have a duty as well as a right to report back to my paisanos on this issue.

Compared to many Mexican reporters, some of whom end up dead or beaten for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I am only a flea on the back of an elephant (or, as some of the senior PRI officials are characterized, a dinosaur). My profoundest respect goes to David Shields at The News In English, Amado Avendano in Chiapas, and scores of brave journalists at La Jornada, Proceso and other newspapers and magazines, who put their lives at risk every day.

I am not strictly a "political writer". My articles span a broad range of subjects, including the funny things us gringos get into down here. I am a "booster" of the local scene and write a lot of "c'mon down y'all" types of articles.

I genuinely like it here. I am a "solid citizen" of the local expatriate community: active in the English Language Library; fund raiser for the local Women's House; assistant to some elderly folk; well-known to all. I hope to stay here for many years, enjoying the hospitality, generosity and durability of the Mexican people as they go forward in their struggle to perfect their revolution.

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