Mexican journalists scared into silence. Attack on Nuevo Laredo paper highlights dangers to reporters, democracy.

“A month ago, a sense of hope was surfacing among the shell-shocked journalists of Nuevo Laredo. The city’s El Mañana newspaper was hosting a first-of-its-kind conference aimed at giving Mexican reporters the training and tools they need to investigate drug trafficking.

More than 120 journalists, from Texas to Venezuela, took part in the seminar. For our counterparts in Nuevo Laredo, the seminar was a show of solidarity, a signal that despite the fact that they felt abandoned by the local authorities, they weren’t alone. As one veteran crime reporter said, the visiting journalists were like a force field.”

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