![Rodolfo Rinco Taracena Rodolfo Rinco Taracena](/images/stories/CCWatch/Rodolfo_RincoTaracena.jpg)
Rodolfo Rinco Taracena
"The worst scenario for journalists is when organized crime and the government become partners. And in many parts of this country, they are completely intertwined."
While Mexico has long been known as one of the world's deadliest nations for journalists, with 21 killed since 2000, the rise in disappearances over the last two years marks an apparent change in tactics by criminal groups and corrupt officials seeking to intimidate the press.
"The impact of a journalist's death has a short duration," says Raúl Fraga Juárez, a journalist and security expert at the Universidad Iberoamericana. "But if a journalist goes missing, uncertainty will always linger."
Missing People: A National Trend
It also reflects a national trend: 600 people have gone missing nationwide since late 2006, when the newly inaugurated Calderon began using the military and federal police in the government's fight against organized crime. In an investigative series on the rash of disappearances published in 2008, the Mexico City weekly Proceso tied the phenomenon to fears among corrupt officials of exposure. The Proceso found evidence of government involvement in some of the cases of disappearance.
Journalists Disappeared in Variety of Locations
![Rafael Ortiz Martinez Rafael Ortiz Martinez](/images/stories/CCWatch/ortiz_martinez 3x2.jpg)
Rafael Ortiz Martinez
Yet while dispersed across Mexico, each of the journalists disappeared while working in different points along a long corridor extending from the country's southern tip to the U.S. a border- a smuggling route for billions of dollars worth of drugs. Violence in the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon – three of the states where journalists have disappeared – has exploded over turf wars between the powerful Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels. Well-financed criminal groups brought with them a rise in corruption at every level of society. Journalists were no exception. A 2006 CPJ report found numerous cases of journalists accepting bribes from drug trafficker to tailor their reporting. For those that don't, the consequences can be severe.
By Michael