A Mexican newspaper, El Diario, has made an unprecedented move by publishing an open letter from its editorial staff to the drug cartels operating in Ciudad Juarez.
It pleaded with the drug gangs to end their violence against journalists, and it was published on the day that the paper's latest victim, photographer Luis Carlos Santiago Orozco, was buried.
You are, at present, the de facto authorities in this city because the legal institutions have not been able to keep our colleagues from dying.
We do not want more deaths. We do not want more injuries or even more intimidation. It is impossible to exercise our role in these conditions. Tell us, then, what do you expect of us as a medium?
This is not a surrender. Nor does it mean that we've given up the work we have been developing. Instead it is a respite to those who have imposed the force of its law in this city, provided they respect the lives of those who are dedicated to the craft of reporting.
Santiago, 21, was killed last week while sitting in a parked car outside a shopping mall in Juarez. He was shot several times at close range. A colleague with him was wounded.
El Diario, the most popular paper in Juarez, has made a reputation for its aggressive coverage of the drug violence.
Source: CNN
