Are you listening now?

Federal agents — supposedly for reasons having to do with its broadcast license — raided a pirate radio station, “la Tremenda de los dos Laredos” which had been operating at FM 106.5 from Neuvo Laredo. The raid — which was broadcast live (listeners could hear glass being broken and equipment being smashed) — was conducted after Federal agents and soldiers blocked surrounding streets and responded with “overwhelming force.”

The entire staff was taken into custody, with General Manager Javier Delgado Sandoval and two reporters, Pablo Trinidad Arteaga and Santiago Palmeros Morales were held for several hours before making a “ministerial declaration”.

I don’t hae the particulars. Jornada is quoting off the record sources as saying the station was broadcasting information to narcotics traffickers. But… that was not what the station personnel were changed with. If it was a legitimate anti-narcotics operation, the military and police action might be understandable.  And, here in Sinaloa, last week thirty-odd illegal radio towers — allegedly used by the narcos for communications — were decommissioned.

HOWEVER, the charges don’t suggest anything of the sort. With “legitimate” news reporters unable to cover narcotics dealers (for the very good reason they want to stay alive), underground news sources — like pirate radio stations — are important. And, whether people are blogging or taking to the airwaves (without a license), alternative journalists are journalists. Not that the narcos can’t have their own journalists, just like corporations or political parties.  ButyYou don’t need the State’s permission to report information. At least not yet.

Was this a drug-raid, or was it  the temptation to use military force, and the excuse of calling any crime “drug related”, as justification for an overreaction?