From El Universal, May 6, 2000
To see original
story in Spanish, go to El Universal web site, to the May 6th
edition, click "nación," and then click "justicia
y narco" -- it is among the six stories published May 6th
that relate to the drug war.
The following
is a translation of the full story...
Attorney General: Assassinated
Journalist Worked for CISEN
Authorities have opened this line of investigation.
The Attorney General's office subpoenas
National Security personnel
By Luis Carlos Cano
Correspondent
El Universal
CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA - The reporter
José Ramírez Puente, assassinated last week in this
city, worked for the Center of Investigation and National Security
(CISEN) and the auto and cell phone that he used are property
of that institution, according to sources in the PGR, the federal
attorney general's office.
This is now another of the lines of investigation
that are being followed in the case. Still the journalists who
spent the most time with him continue to be interrogated, as well
as the staff of Radio Net 1490, where he worked.
The investigations have extended to employees
of a restaurant in this city, where Ramírez Puente said
to his wife that he was going to a press conference, but to which
he never arrived because on this day he was assassinated.
With the discovery that Ramírez
Puente worked for the CISEN, elements of this institution were
called before the local delegation of the PGR.
At the same time they were interrogating
employees and journalists at Radio Net, some in the offices of
the business and other in their homes, but in all cases, according
to what they have said, the PGR investigation process has been
courteous.
Ramírez was assassinated last Friday
by 35 knife wounds to his body and was found in the car that he
used to work, a Nissan Sentra 1994 model, which now is known to
be the property of the CISEN along with the cell phone that he
used.
It is presumed that the crime could have
occurred because he discovered something in his work for the Center
of Investigation and National Security, although this has not
been confirmed.
Up until now it was said that the journalist received a cell phone
call before leaving his house, and according to his family, he
described the form in which he would dress so that the other person
could easily identify him.
Meanwhile, the Journalists Association
of Ciudad Juárez announced that the PGR promised to inform
them of the progress of the investigations on the case next Monday,
a day in which the journalists will also meet with members of
Congress to ask their intervention in the investigations about
the assassination of Ramírez Puente.