Governor Asks Papers not to Publish Violence

(Chilpancingo, JG 5 March) State governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo called upon the communications media yesterday not to give press attention to organized crime. He said that the drug thugs do their disgusting work because it gets them attention, both from the public at large and from rival drug groups. If the atrocities and the “drug messages” went unreported, there would be less of an incentive to engage in them.

Such a request is not unusual from city government officials when organized criminal groups function with impunity, terrorizing the citizens. Chicago’s mayors made similar requests throughout the prohibition era, but to little avail.

Governor Torreblanca will render his sixth and final annual report on the work of his government today. Part of the report addresses the work of the security forces, especially the 12,000 federal police that have worked on a joint operation with state police in Acapulco and elsewhere. According to the governor, the work has been fruitful, but it is not sufficient to reestablish physical security for every one of Guerrero’s citizens. For that reason, he said, it is important not to reward villains with public attention or spread panic about violent and criminal acts.

“Help us,” he said to the media. “We can give it the importance it deserves, but do not transmit the messages for the delinquents or publish their banners or give publicity to what they do. Let us do the job we are trying to do together with the federal government: it is not simple, it is not easy, and it is a matter of national importance.”