Border Report: Mexicali Journalist Called Into Prosecutor’s Office After Questioning Baja Gov

When Gov. Marina del Pilar Avila Olmeda opened a recent Wednesday morning news conference in Mexicali with a discussion of improvements to Baja California’s water system, journalist Dianeth Perez Arreola saw an opportunity to ask officials a question that her reporting had recently raised.

Days later, that question would result in a letter from the office of the general prosecutor of the republic, telling Perez Arreola to come in for questioning. 

“It’s an accusation or punishment: ‘You asked something uncomfortable. We’re going to punish you,’” Perez Arreola told me in Spanish.

Since then, journalists and organizations that support journalists’ rights have spoken out against the government’s actions. 

Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, called on the state government to stop harassing Perez Arreola and asking her to reveal her sources.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

In a written statement sent via WhatsApp, the state of Baja California government said it respected journalism and freedom of expression.

“It’s important to clarify that in no moment have acts of harassment or intimidation been carried out against journalist Dianeth Pérez (sic) Arreola, nor against any other person dedicated professionally to the informational labor,” the statement says in Spanish.

At the Aug. 6 press conference, when it was her turn to ask a question, Perez Arreola explained, as she had in an article in July, that there had been two separate requests for bids to run a project funded by North American Development Bank at a Tecate water plant called La Nopalera. She said that it was strange that the winner of the second round, who was presumably now running the project, had never been made public, and she said there were suggestions that the company had links to organized crime.

As she asked the governor and the secretary of management, sanitation and protection of water for the name of the company, the governor interrupted her.

“It’s very delicate, that type of signaling, truly,” Avila said in Spanish. “I ask you to take responsibility with this type of thing, this type of signaling, without support, without evidence. It’s extremely delicate.”

Perez Arreola told the governor that her sources were from inside the institution.

“If you have information, please give it to the prosecutor’s office to do an investigation because they are serious topics,” Avila said.

Perez Arreola asked again for the name of the company.

Avila and the water secretary both said they did not know the name.

“I don’t know all of those companies because I’m not going to insert myself into each of the solicitations of the state government because there are a lot,” Avila said.

That Saturday, Perez Arreola received the prosecutor’s letter. The word the letter used, coadyuvar, or contribute, to describe what the office wanted Perez Arreola to do, seemed intentionally vague to her, she said. The letter says the investigation came from a request from the general secretary of the state government of Baja California. That, in particular, concerned Perez Arreola because she was receiving support from the state government’s mechanism to protect journalists.

“If the state is coming after me, I don’t trust them,” Perez Arreola said.

She said she has requested protection from the federal version of the mechanism instead.

A spokesperson for the State Mechanism for Protection for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists of Baja California did not respond to a request for comment.

The statement from the government of the state of Baja California cited the mechanism as a line of communication between the government and the press to work toward a future free of violence, threats and intimidation against journalists.

In the end, Perez Arreola said she decided to show up for the requested appointment because she wanted to make three points. The first was that she respected her sources, their anonymity and safety, and that the Mexican Constitution protected her as a journalist. 

Second, Perez Arreola told the prosecutor to call in the governor for questioning since Avila would have information about state government contracts. And third, Perez Arreola emphasized that she didn’t have any details on the relationship between the company and organized crime, that the allegation came from her source.

She said that after the morning news conference, a source told her the name of the company, and she found reports that it received favoritism during Avila’s time as mayor of Mexicali. She said government contracts are supposed to be published, but that under Avila, the state government hasn’t posted them.

Perez Arreola said what she wants is transparency — and an apology from the state government.

“They could’ve told me, ‘Here are the contracts to see there’s nothing weird, nothing strange. The company is called this.’ They could’ve been transparent and answered with clarity what I asked, and we could leave clear that there’s nothing hidden,” Perez Arreola said. “But this reaction tells me that there’s something that hurt them.”

Thank you for reading. I’m open for tips, suggestions and feedback on Instagram @katemorrisseyjournalist and on X/Twitter and Bluesky @bgirledukate.

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A father detained: A father and former refugee from Vietnam was arrested by ICE at a recent check-in appointment, Shelby Bremer reported for NBC 7. His U.S. citizen wife and children are pleading for his release.

Arresting U.S. Citizens: For Times of San Diego, Lillian Perlmutter wrote about a volunteer who was arrested while observing ICE activity in the hallways of the downtown immigration court.

Charges dropped: The federal government dropped the charges it had brought against a Guatemalan man who was accused of assaulting a federal agent after ICE arrested him at his Linda Vista apartment complex in early July, I reported for Daylight San Diego. His attorney had raised concerns about the government’s lack of evidence during early hearings. 

Immigrant Workers: Andrew Keatts and Alex Fitzpatrick at Axios San Diego analyzed data on what industries in San Diego rely on workers who were born outside of the United States.

Protesting ICE: Sam Barney-Gibbs wrote for Daylight San Diego about a protest outside the Federal Building that warned about ICE’s relationship with surveillance company Palantir.

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