Students Say Mexican Paper Was Censored

One of Mexico’s student-run college papers was suddenly shut down two weeks ago by the Universidad de las Americas-Puebla (UDLA) following a series of controversial cartoons and opinion columns criticizing the university administration.

According to the editor-in-chief of La Catarina, Sergio Zepeza, the administration has butted heads with the paper ever since its inception in 2000, and the animosity escalated with the paper’s sharp criticism of the university’s chancellor, Pedro Palou. Yet Zepeza said he was shocked when he saw four members of the administration accompanied by four security guards enter the paper’s office on Jan. 17, only two hours after he said he received an e-mail notification that they would shut it down.

The six staff members were told to leave immediately, Zepeza said.

“When we tried to back up our files and archives, [the security guards] would turn off the computers, push the escape button, and went as far as turning off the electricity in the end,” said Astrid Viveros, a La Catarina columnist who was at the office during the incident.

The staff tried to inform the student body of the events surrounding the closing of the paper, but university e-mails with the word “La Catarina” have been blocked by the administration, the paper’s Web site can no longer be accessed, and within the UDLA network, Web sites with articles concerning the paper have been blocked, according to Viveros.

“We’ve been giving out copies of press releases, but the administration is trying to block out the information for the rest of the students as much as possible,” Viveros said.

Several UDLA officials—including a spokesman and a provost—did not return repeated e-mail requests for comment yesterday.

In its official statement, the university referred to the shutdown as a “reorganization” of the paper due to its relation to the social service program, which requires 480 hours of community service to graduate, and affirmed their commitment to get the paper up and running soon after the “adjustment.”

According to Zepeza, UDLA officials said in a meeting with the paper’s staff that the reason the paper was shut down was the “overly critical” articles and cartoons.

Viveros said that there have been threats to fire faculty and expel students supporting the paper and speaking out against the administration.

Outraged faculty members who requested a meeting with Chancellor Pedro Palou, the target of many of the controversial cartoons and columns, were not successful, according to Josefina Buxade, an associate professor and the first adviser of the paper.

“In my opinion, this will be a death sentence for the paper,” said Buxade.

Some of the contentious cartoons satirized Chancellor Palou’s friendship with Puebla State Governor Mario Marín, who has been at the center of controversy for a taped telephone conversation leaked to the public in which he helps plot the arrest of a journalist on trumped-up libel charges. Marín has denied that it is his voice on the tape.

Palou invited Marín to speak at the university, prompting student protest. In the cartoon, Marín and Palou are playing poker with pigs and dogs, while Palou calls Marín’s speech at the college “free publicity.”

Members of the Catarina staff said that many students and faculty have expressed their support for the paper.

“I can’t believe this is my college,” a former chief of the opinion section Luis Rossano said. “Supporters have called Catarina saying, ‘What can I do to help? But I’m afraid.’”

Staff members have been contacting local and national media in Mexico for help, and the issue has garnered increasing coverage over the week.

At least one United States university is already reacting to the news from across the border.

The provost of Texas Christian University, which shares a joint-degree program with UDLA, said that TCU is reconsidering its ties with UDLA.

Meanwhile, despite UDLA’s assertion that the paper will be back on track soon, several staff members said they would not work for the paper while it remains under administrative control.

“Why would anyone work for a paper that doesn’t cover what’s actually happening?” Zepeza said.

—Staff writer Marie C. Kodama can be reached at mckodama@fas.harvard.