On this episode of Talk at Ten, we speak with journalists Alfredo Corchado and Angela Kocherga.
Corchado is the Mexico Bureau Chief of the Dallas Morning News, a Harvard Neiman fellow, and the author of Mexico at Midnight: A Reporter's Journey Through a Country's Descent into Darkness. Kocherga is a TV journalist and the Mexico Bureau Chief for Belo media.
In fall 2005, Corchado received a video from a source of a paramilitary group killing a man during an interrogation. The video showed elements of the Mexican government paid for by a rival cartel of the Zetas, getting information and then dispensing of them.
“The people who were being forced to confess, have to remember they had guns to their heads, the information that the drug czar was involved and on the payroll of a rival cartel,” said Kocherga.
Corchado sees a shift from security and military support to focusing on the potential for more prosperity in Mexico under the new president, Enrique Pena Nieto. Corchado says that as a journalist, at times, it feels like he’s covering two Mexicos: the more prosperous aspects of Mexico, as well as the tragic violence that continues.
Corchado believes there is hope in the country that the new administration may work with the cartels to reduce the violence and allow people to return to the streets. But he adds, verifying any deals between the government and cartels is difficult.
