Story from Guardian follows Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 Source: Village Voice (NY) Copyright: 2001 Village Voice Media, Inc Contact: editor@villagevoice.com Website: http://www.villagevoice.com/ Author: Cynthia Cotts Referenced: http://www.narconews.com DRUG WAR ON THE WEB Last month, when Citigroup bought Banamex, the second largest bank in Mexico, the deal was praised as good for the Mexican people and good for the banks. Citigroup vice chairman Robert Rubin told the press that the deal was the result of an overture from Banamex chairman Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, who is worth $1.3 billion and has been promised a seat on the Citigroup board. On May 18, The New York Times faithfully regurgitated Hernandez's rags-to-riches success story. But the fruit vendor turned billionaire has a dark side. According to statements made in 2000 by Al Giordano, publisher of the Mexican-based NarcoNews.com, Hernandez has also been called a money launderer and a drug dealer. Giordano says he has reviewed published photos and testimony suggesting that Hernandez has shared his Yucatan beachfront with the boats and planes of the cocaine trade. Hernandez has denied the allegations since they were first reported in 1997 by the Mexican newspaper Por Esto! Last summer, after failing in his efforts to get Por Esto! prosecuted in Mexico, the banker decided to sue his critics in New York. He hired Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a firm that has represented alleged money launderers in the past, to file a libel suit on behalf of Banamex. His lawyer calls the portrayal of Hernandez and Banamex as drug traffickers "utterly false," and claims that Giordano's comments "injured Banamex's business reputation"oa conclusion which seems especially odd now that Banamex has been snapped up by Citigroup for $12.5 billion. Wherever he found his money, Hernandez has enough of it to sue Narco News for yearsoor at least until the Web site shuts down. But it would be a mistake to underestimate my friend Giordano, a respected reporter and activist who plans to defend himself against the libel charges. In what is shaping up to be the summer's most entertaining media trial, Giordano will appear in New York State Supreme Court on July 20, where he plans to throw curve balls during the first round of oral arguments in the case. In his motion to dismiss, Giordano chronicles his lifelong commitment to free speech and claims that every one of his supposedly libelous statements is what the courts call an opinion, because in each case he cited the facts on which his opinion was based. Via e-mail, Giordano wrote that the opinion defense has solid precedents, including a case in which an umpire sued Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for mocking his calls as "ludicrous" and incompetent. Because Steinbrenner referred to specifics to back up his opinion, his statement was found to be not defamatory. Giordano says, "We razzed the umpire in this case, the government, which leaves certain white-collar traffickers alone." Attorney Thomas Lesser, who represents Narco News, also filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the court cannot allow Banamex to sue the Web site in New York for content uploaded in Mexico. According to Lesser, that would be tantamount to giving any libel plaintiff permission to sue any Web site anywhere in the worldoa precedent that would seriously threaten free speech. In its response, Akin Gump calls Lesser's argument a "straw man" and paints Giordano as having superhuman powers to raise money and affect public opinion. The plaintiff also claims jurisdiction in New York because Giordano has business contacts and does fundraising here. It's too early to call a winner, but as of this week, Giordano will stop posting new reports on his Web site. When he arrives in New York, he intends to dispense with the technicalities and turn the spotlight on the drug trade, which is the heart of the case. "We may be out-hollered and out-dollared," he quips, "but we're not outsmarted." Unlike Hernandez, who Giordano says is "hiding behind his bank," the journalist will step up to the plate. "Just showing my face," he says, "will speak volumes about which side of this dispute is telling the truth." Given his passionate opposition to the drug war, Giordano should have plenty of fans cheering from the bleachers. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Pubdate: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 Source: Guardian, The (UK) Copyright: 2001 Guardian Newspapers Limited Contact: letters@guardian.co.uk Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/ Author: Sean Dobson Referenced: http://www.narconews.com HACKS HIT IN DRUGS WAR An American Investigative Journalist Is Being Sued Over His Website's Reports Of Drugs Trafficking In Mexico. So What Are The Implications For Freedom Of Speech? In 1997, a notable Mexican billionaire, Roberto Hernandez, general director and majority owner of the National Bank of Mexico (Banamex) and one of the richest men in the world, picked up a copy of Por Esto, a modest Mexican daily newspaper. In its pages was the first of 15 investigative reports which alleged that he was a major drugs trafficker. After a lengthy criminal libel trial lasting more than two years, a Mexican judge ruled that Banamex had not been libelled, a decision that was upheld on appeal in May last year. A third attempt to press criminal charges in Mexico was thrown out of court. Hernandez has never personally filed a libel lawsuit over any of the allegations made by Por Esto. It could have ended there and it nearly did. But next month Banamex will be back in court - this time in Courtroom 205 of the New York State Supreme Court - and a new defendant will stand in the dock alongside Por Esto's editor Mario Menendez and his team of reporters. On July 21, the Mexican hacks will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Al Giordano, a US investigative journalist and publisher of a crusading website, www.narconews.com. At stake, say the defendants, is the future of free speech on the internet. The Banamex suit charges the journalists with "defamation and interference with prospective economic advantage", accusing them of "maliciously smear[ing] Banamex with accusations that, among other things, it is controlled and operated by narcotics traffickers and has engaged in illegal activity". If it hadn't been for Giordano, much of the world would never have heard of Por Esto's allegations. Since leaving his native Boston, the former political reporter has been operating - often in secret - deep in the heart of Latin America's "narco states". He is the sole publisher of Narco News, a website that aims at the reform of US drugs policy. It attempts to expose corruption, offers translations of the Latin press into English and aims to shatter "the illusion that the drugs war is about combating drugs". Banamex's lawyers claim that the defamation occurred last year when Menendez and Giordano went on a publicity tour to New York. The tour included an interview with Menendez in New York's Village Voice, a radio interview with Giordano and Menendez, and a lecture the pair gave at the Columbia University School of Law - all well within the court's jurisdiction.But crucially, the libel action also cites a number of articles Giordano published on his website, which is produced and maintained in Mexico and uploaded to a server in Maryland USA, not New York. Speaking from an undisclosed location in Latin America, Giordano told MediaGuardian: "If the National Bank of Mexico can sue a website published from Mexico, over stories investigated, reported and uploaded from Mexico, and sue that website in New York, that would set a dangerous precedent that chills free speech throughout the internet. If you say something that a large corporation doesn't like, not only can you be hauled into court in Mexico, but you can be hauled into court anywhere in the world." According to Tamsin Allen, a specialist in media law at City law firm Bindman and Partners, Banamex is practising a form of "forum shopping". "It happens quite often," says Allen. "What it means in effect is that the bank is looking around for a forum which is going to give it the best result." Giordano says he left the US because "journalism, as I once knew it, seemed to be dying". After a year in Chiapas, living with the indigenous Zapatista rebels, Giordano began operating from his secret base in Latin America. In a little over a year, Narco News has broken a string of scoops focusing on the war on drugs. It exposed a conflict-of-interest scandal surrounding a series of Associated Press articles about Bolivian politics, which led to the resignation of AP's Bolivia correspondent, Peter McFarren. It also broke the news that the president of Uruguay Jorge Batlle has recently begun calling for the legalisation of drugs. "None of the stories were about Banamex," says Giordano. "So you have to ask: why doesn't Hernandez bring the suit himself?" Narco News will be represented by Charles Nesson, the Harvard law professor who came to prominence in 1987 when he defended Abbie Hoffman and Amy Carter in their fight against the CIA. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld - the third largest lobbying firm in Washington with clients including Colombia and Bolivia - will represent Banamex. When proceedings begin next month the debate will centre around whether Banamex has acted properly in bringing its lawsuit in New York, when it has already been defeated three times in Mexican courts. In a bid to establish jurisdiction over Narco News, Banamex claims that it is an "affiliate" of a media watchdog group called the Media Channel, which is based in New York. "There's no money involved," says Giordano. "Nobody pays to affiliate with organisations of like interests. But imagine if affiliation could be used to sue Media Channel in New York. It will have a chilling effect on media organisations and citizen groups." Other affiliates include 78 UK organisations, including Amnesty International, Comic Relief and Guardian Unlimited. "If this case is allowed to proceed, it means that any British website, or any site in the world, could be dragged into a New York court," says Giordano. "This case is costing me a lot of money that I don't have. It's costing me time that is taking away from my journalism, and it's a warning to every journalist that the same thing will happen to you if you report about the activities of billionaires." Despite this, Giordano is relishing the fight. "If we go to trial, the drug war goes on trial," he says. "This case has many interesting elements, including photos of cocaine trafficking, and the outrageous story of Mexican state persecution of journalists for taking such photos and reporting the facts." Also, "there is drug-money laundering, including in the tourism industry, a US president and ambassador who were guests at the accused trafficker's estate, and official complicity with and protection of white-collar drug trafficking on both sides of the border." __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************