Mexico: governor arrested for torture of journalist Lydia Cacho
Mario Marin Torres, then governor of the State of Puebla, February 15, 2006. AFP - RONALDO SCHEMIDT
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2 min
In Mexico, a former governor was arrested and charged with torture in the Lydia Cacho case, named after this Mexican journalist persecuted following her revelations in 2005 on a child pornography network implicating relatives of this governor.
An arrest that could end 14 years of impunity in this case, in a country where journalists are particularly vulnerable.
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With our correspondent in Mexico,
Alix Hardy
Former Puebla state governor Mario Marin had been wanted for two years.
He was arrested on Wednesday and formally charged with torture on journalist Lydia Cacho.
In 2005, she revealed in a book the existence of a network of child sexual exploitation involving influential figures, including two Lebanese businessmen close to the then governor of the state of Puebla.
The reprisals were not long in coming as the journalist had been arrested for defamation by the authorities of the same state.
During her detention, she had received threats of rape and death.
The Mexican daily
La Jornada
then revealed a telephone conversation in which Governor Mario Marin congratulated himself on having put the journalist in her place.
Despite this damning recording, he remained untouchable until the United Nations forced Mexico in 2019 to do justice to the journalist.
Since then, in a rare act, the government of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has apologized to Lydia Cacho.
The arrest of Mario Marin, even if it takes place 14 years after the facts, is a strong signal in a country where caciques and men of influence have too often freed themselves from the laws to protect their interests.
Last year, no less than eight journalists who were murdered in Mexico.
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