DRUG WAR ON THE WEB Village Voice : 'Narco News' Ready For Libel Suit In New York

Matthew Gaylor freematt at coil.com
Wed Jun 27 21:43:11 PDT 2001


Story from Guardian follows

Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jun 2001
Source: Village Voice (NY)
Copyright: 2001 Village Voice Media, Inc
Contact: editor at villagevoice.com
Website: http://www.villagevoice.com/
Author: Cynthia Cotts
Referenced: http://www.narconews.com

DRUG WAR ON THE WEB

<truthout at lists.truthout.com>

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 at 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.
---

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