Border Report: Mexicali Journalist Called Into Prosecutor’s Office After Questioning Baja Gov

When Gov. Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda opened a recent Wednesday morning news conference in Mexicali with a discussion of improvements to Baja California’s water system, journalist Dianeth Perez Arreola saw an opportunity to ask officials a question that her reporting had recently raised.

Days later, that question would result in a letter from the office of the general prosecutor of the republic, telling Perez Arreola to come in for questioning.

“It’s an accusation or punishment: ‘You asked something uncomfortable. We’re going to punish you,’” Perez Arreola told me in Spanish.

Since then, journalists and organizations that support journalists’ rights have spoken out against the government’s actions.

Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists