Collateral Damage: Little Improvement for Mexican Drug War Reporters, Despite Increased Attention

Little Improvement for Mexican Drug War Reporters, Despite Increased Attention | KPBS.org: "Luis Najera covered the border in Mexico for 18 years. 'Drug hot spots. Mostly in Ciudad Juarez,' said Najera. For his last four years, he was at one of Mexico’s most respected newspapers.

But, Najera’s life has changed. 'I am a janitor (after finding asylum in Canada). I clean toilets. Friday, I was cleaning toilets. And look where I am now.' Najera was at a prestigious press freedom seminar at the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla. 'And Wednesday, when I go back, I’ll clean bathrooms again.'

In the summer of 2008, Najera was in Ciudad Juarez. The drug war was heating up. The number of homicides in the city was on its way to tripling the previous year’s total. Mexico’s president had deployed more than 2500 soldiers to Ciudad Juarez try to stop the fighting. Najera was investigating how the army was trying to do that."