In a wave of escalating violence against the media, two Televisa television stations in northern Mexico were rocked by grenade attacks over the weekend.
Local Televisa stations in the cities of Tamaulipas and Monterrey were hit by explosives about four hours apart on late Saturday and early Sunday, according to media reports. No injuries were reported, however news footage showed damage to vehicles and studio buildings.
Sunday’s blast at Televisa’s Monterrey facility marks the second time in two years that the station has come under attack. The assailants were unidentified, however, powerful cartels have been known to use force to intimidate the media in Mexico’s ongoing drug war, which has claimed more than 28,000 lives since 2006.
Two Televisa cameramen were recently kidnapped and later rescued last month. The abductors were demanding that Televisa air a video that revealed collusion between local government officials and members of a drug gang. Televisa canceled one of its news programs in protest of the kidnappings.
Last weekend here in the nation’s capital, more than 1,000 journalists took to the streets in a protest march to demand better protection and to condemn recent killings and abductions of their colleagues. Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders estimates that 67 reporters have been killed in Mexico since 2000, making it “the western hemisphere’s deadliest country for the media.”
Source: HollywoodReporter.com
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