Activist appears targeted at Mexican president’s press brief

A human rights activist in Mexico’s dangerous northern border city of Nuevo Laredo yesterday [Macau time] said that he suspects the Mexican army — and the government in general — are behind claims linking him to a drug cartel, which could put his life at risk.

The issue is a sensitive one in a country where dozens of activists have been murdered in recent years. In many parts of Mexico, being called a drug cartel collaborator can be a death sentence.

Over the last decade, activist Raymundo Ramos has investigated a number of killings and disappearances carried out by the military in Nuevo Laredo. On Sunday, Ramos denounced the killing of five young men by soldiers, events the army eventually confirmed.

Carlos Dominguez, who runs a web site called Nacion 14, was the first person selected to ask a question at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press briefing, where he claimed Ramos worked for a drug cartel. Ramos has denied the accusations. Dominguez played a taped intercept of a telephone call purportedly between Ramos and a supposed drug trafficker.

López Obrador did not openly endorse the claims of Dominguez, whose news site largely echoes the president’s statements.