According to MEX27056.E of 27 June 1997, La Reseña is a newspaper based in Tenancingo, a city located approximately 100 km from Mexico City in the state of Mexico.

However, in a 6 November 1998 telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the Secretary of the Comisión Calificadora de Publicaciones y Revistas Illustradas, a body that registers newspapers and magazines in Mexico, stated that he had no information on a newspaper named La Reseña. This was corroborated during a 6 November 1998 telephone interview with the director of the Hemeroteca of Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM), a library that compiles newspapers and magazines from all over Mexico. She indicated that she had no information on such a publication.

In response to a 6 November 1998 telephone inquiry by the Research Directorate, a directory assistance operator with Telecommunicaciones de Mexico (TELECOMM) stated that there was no listing of a newspaper named La Reseña in Tenancingo. Many attempts to contact 6 different newspapers in Toluca, Tenancingo's closest city, listed in the Europa World Yearbook 1998, and El Diario Adelante, another newspaper in Tenancingo, were unfruitful.

Please note that the annual 1992 reports of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Attacks on the Press and the 1993 report of Reporters Sans Frontières do not mention this newspaper or any attacks against its staff. Europa World Yearbook 1998 does not list La Reseña as one of the newspaper or magazines in Mexico at present. Benn's World Media 1996 which lists hundreds of Mexican magazines and newspapers does not mention La Reseña. Mexico's National Commission of Human Rights annual report for the year 1994-1995 does not list this newspaper nor report on the treatment of its staff by the authorities in its chapter entitled "Program on Human Rights Violations Against Journalists" which details all types of attacks and threats on journalists in all of Mexico.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Comisión Calificadora de Publicaciones y Revistas Illustradas, Mexico City. 6 November 1998. Telephone interview with the secretary.

Hemeroteca de la Universidad National Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City. 6 November 1998. Telephone interview with the director.

Telecomunicaciones de Mexico (TELECOMM), Mexico City. 6 November 1998. Telephone interview with a directory assistance operator.

Additional Sources Consulted

Attacks on the Press.1992. New York: Committee to Protect Journalists.

Benn's World Media 1996.

Europa World Yearbook 1998.

Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA). Yearly. Annual Reports: General Concerns and Brief Country Reports.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 1992.

Latin American Regional Reports: Mexico and NAFTA Report [London]. 1992.

Reporters Sans Frontières. 1993 Annual Report.

Electronic Sources: IRB Databases, Global News Bank, Lexis/Nexis, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC).

Companía Periodista Adelante, Tenancingo.