Miami (August 27, 2010)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) expressed outrage at a car bomb explosion early today outside the offices of Televisa, Mexico’s largest TV network, in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, and urged the government to act once and for all to put an end to the terror and violence reigning in the country.
It was 18 minutes past midnight when the blast that could be heard several blocks away occurred. No injuries were reported – the offices were closed at the time – but the signal was off the air for several hours and the main door to the building was damaged.
IAPA President Alejandro Aguirre and the chairman of the organization’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Robert Rivard, reacted with indignation, declaring, “We urge the government to take the proper actions once and for all to put an end to the culture of terror and violence that Mexico is undergoing,” stressing “the need for coordinated action by the federal and state governments to put an end to this epidemic.”
In mid-August, assailants believed to be members of the Los Zetas drug cartel tossed hand grenades at another of Televisa’s buildings in Matamoros, also in Tamaulipas state, and in Monterrey, Nuevo León, damaging furniture and scaring employees.
Tamaulipas, bordering Texas, is where the largest number of clashes between rival drug trafficking groups occurs; this week it was in the news when a common grave containing the bodies of 72 migrants from various Latin American countries was discovered there.
On July 5 another car bomb was exploded in Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua state, killing three people and injuring nine; still another blast was reported in Ciudad Victoria, the Tamaulipas state capital, outside a police station, but there were no deaths or injuries in that case.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. The IAPA Impunity Project is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and has the mission of combating violence against journalists and lessening the impunity surrounding the majority of such crimes. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org; http://www.impunidad.com
