H. E. Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon
President
Mexico DF
Mexico

Viena, 17 July 1997

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the killing of Benjamin Flores González, publisher and editor of the daily newspaper La Prensa, in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora State.

We are informed that Mr. Flores was murdered outside his office by unidentified assassins on 15 July 1997. He was gunned down with an AK-47 assault rifle fired from a car carrying four men. One of the men then leapt out of the car and shot Mr. Flores again with a .22 calibre pistol, before fleeing on foot.

Mr. Flores who founded La Prensa in 1992, wrote a column “Not Confirmed,” in which he frequently accused politicians of corruption, and exposed the activities of drug traffickers, including Hector Luis Palma Salazar, the now-jailed head of the Sinaloa cartel, which also operates in the state of Sonora.

We understand that Mr. Flores had received a death threat from a lieutenant of drug lord Amado Carillo Fuentes, who died two weeks ago after undergoing extensive plastic surgery to change his appearance., and that he was also facing five lawsuits for criminal defamation, some of them due to his coverage of the drug trade.

IPI, the global network of editors and media executives from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in over 100 countries, fears that Mr. Flores’ murder was related to his activities as a journalist. We welcome the promise made by State Attorney General Rolando Tavarez Ibarra of a complete and impartial investigation, and urge that everything is done to ensure that those responsible for this brutal crime are brought to justice. We further urge that any findings with regard to his murder are disclosed.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director