Lydia Cacho Ribeiro: “International visibility is a shield for threatened journalists

“I believe the role of journalism is to be a lantern, allowing society to exercise its right to know and understand; I believe human rights are non-negotiable. As long as I live, I will continue to write and writing will keep me alive.” This forceful declaration of faith is made by Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (45), Mexican freelance journalist and head of a centre that helps abused women in Cancun. Laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, she answers questions put by Lucia Iglesias (UNESCO).

by Lydia Cacho Rìbeiro

Through your books and hundreds of articles, you have denounced pedophilia, trafficking of minors, corruption, organized crime, gender discrimination and violence against women. You’ve done it despite death threats and attempts to murder you. You’ve fought legal battles. Where do you find the strength to act?

My work as a journalist and my activism as a citizen are intertwined. I have been sensitive to the cause of defending human rights since I was a small child. My mother, who was French and moved to Mexico when she was very young, had always practiced social activism. It was an integral part of her life and she brought up her children in that spirit. I grew up in a family where defending human rights was the natural responsibility of citizens, and neither an effort nor a sacrifice. For many years I hosted a show for a community radio station in Quinatana Roo state, where we were always bringing up the issue of violence against women. Sometimes women came unexpectedly to the studio. Some had been slashed with machetes; others told us their husbands threatened to kill them. They asked us for help but I didn’t know what to do for them. So then we decided to start a support group and finally we were able to open a maximum security shelter for women and children who were the victims of violence, as well as a counseling and aid centre.

How does the centre operate?

The Cancun centre for aid to women and their children (CIAM) is a non-profit organization that subsists on donations. I run it, but I make my living from journalism. The staff, though, is on salary. They are professionals in the defense of victims. The CIAM has been recognized as one of the best aid centres in Mexico. It’s a progressive organization. We’ve protected wives of drug dealers, politicians, masons, farmers….in other words, we take in any woman knocking on our door who is involved in a violent relationship.

Do you think things are in the process of changing? Is all this work worth the effort?

Of course it’s worth it. Many things are evolving, people are in prison because of the book I wrote [Los demonios del Edén, Published by Grijalbo Mondadori, 2005], many victims spoke out and received help in different parts of the country. Society reacted vigorously, and for me it’s a great honour. More than prizes we might win, it proves our work as journalists is fulfilling its purpose and being useful. In addition, after my detention and because of the media reaction and the intervention of important social and political actors, journalism was decriminalized. I was thrown in jail precisely because journalists could legally be held after being accused of defamation and libel. All that disappeared following my court case. Now, such matters are tried in civil courts, as they are in all other more advanced countries. Furthermore legislation concerning child pornography has developed considerably; above all, the subject has been covered in the media. Sexual abuse of children was a taboo subject in Mexico. Since my court case, forums on the issue have multiplied and specialized organizations have sprung up.

Do you fear for your life? Have you ever been afraid during your career?

Of course I was afraid when I was kidnapped in late 2005. I was held somewhere between Cancun and central Mexico and tortured for 20 hours. But as time goes by, you learn to master your fear and it becomes a tool for making certain decisions and building certain strategies. I have to say too that after receiving about 20 death threats over the telephone, you learn to keep living without really taking it into account, because it would be insane. I’d have to leave not only my country but maybe also my profession, and I’m not ready to do that.

Do you have special security to protect you when you go out?

For about three years I had four federal agents as an escort and I went everywhere in an armoured van. But in March 2007, this federal van was the target of a bombing attack, and the police still haven’t

 investigated the matter. So it seems having federal agents in charge of your security isn’t really a guarantee. A few months ago I decided to give up this escort and to simply take the usual precautions that reporters have to take when exercising their profession, wherever they are.

But can you work normally under these circumstances?

That’s exactly where there’s a trap in the security measures offered to journalists. Since I investigate organized crime and human rights, it’s very difficult to get certain informants to speak to me, given that we are constantly guarded. Last year, when I’d begun writing my book on the traffic of women in the world, I felt that my range of action was limited because I wasn’t free to talk to my informants. To be guarded when you’re a journalist is really like being in prison, as if you were a criminal under the supervision of police, not knowing whether they’re watching over you or watching you.

How do you feel about receiving the UNESCO/ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize?

First I’m very honoured to be awarded such recognition, when after all I’m simply doing a job I love and consider essential in a country like mine. Psychologically it’s very important for me to feel supported today, after being imprisoned and tortured because of my work; and after these events revealed the extent of institutional corruption that victimizes journalists in Mexico. We must remember that after Iraq, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. And I also feel this kind of recognition gives us in a way a certain protection, because international visibility is a kind of shield.

What topic are you working on right now?

As I said, I’m finishing a book about the international networks involved in the trafficking of women and girls. It’s a map of the world showing not only who is behind these organizations and how the networks buying and selling human beings operate, but also the relationships maintained by highly-placed political leaders locally and internationally to  protect the networks involved in the trade. What is the situation right now in Mexico regarding freedom of the press and information? It’s evident journalism has become in recent years a crucial element for change in Mexico, as the democratic process inevitably goes hand in hand with more truthful information. The single party that ruled the country for 70 years controlled the media, both economically and editorially. With the change in government, when President Vicente Fox was elected for the preceding six-year term (2000-2006), we saw a degree of new openness in the media, which we Mexican journalists are in the process of learning how to handle. It is crucial to have journalists in Mexico in 2008 to describe the real situation in this country of 104 million inhabitants, 30 million of whom are in the grip of extreme poverty. It’s a country where the rich are richer than Europeans and the poor poorer than Africans. We journalists have to understand these disparities and the risk we run by uncovering the fundamental characteristics of national problems.

On May 3, UNESCO celebrates World Press Freedom Day, underlining the issue of access to information. What can be done so that people can have access to plural and independent information?

Electronic media play a crucial role. Media monopoly, much criticized by the international community, is one of the major problems today in Mexico. That’s why keeping community radio stations going is vital. Unfortunately we’re in a phase of repression regarding these radio stations. A few days ago in the state of Oaxaca, two young women who managed a community radio broadcasting news in one of Mexico’s traditional languages were murdered. Here in the state of Quintana Roo where I’ve been living and working for 22 years, we speak Maya, but news are very rarely broadcast in this language. I think we need more community radio and that we have to invest in electronic media, which are more easily accessible to the Mexican people, even if the most important issue is to improve content.