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May 5, 2008 --Ciudad Juarez, the site of a pitched battle between rival drug cartels, is not safe for the average citizen. For journalists attempting to cover the drug violence and its sinister interconnection with officialdom, Juarez is a minefield.

Carlos Huerta Muñoz, a crime and drug-trafficking reporter with the newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez, crossed the border to spend a few weeks in the United States in February after receiving a death threat from someone who said he was from the Federation cartel. Huerta Muñoz’s previous investigative work had revealed the names of some principal cartel members.

After the threat, Norte announced it would contain its drug trafficking coverage to official information, and cut out investigative journalism on the matter. After some time in El Paso, Huerta Muñoz returned to Juarez and was transferred to the breaking news desk to keep his profile low.

Levels of drug-related violence in Juarez have reached terrifying levels; the number of cartel-related executions hit 218 in the first three months of the year. In January, the Federation cartel published a hit list of about a dozen city police officers. To date, four of those on the list have been murdered.