Philip True (18 June 1948 – 16 December 1998) was an American
foreign correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
for the ''
San Antonio Express-News
The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...
''. While on a ten-day, 65-mile trek to learn about the
Huichol people
The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California, ...
in the southern
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...
,
Jalisco
Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...
, True was murdered.
True was the first American journalist to be murdered in Mexico in modern times.
Early history
![Sierra](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Sierra.madre.occidental.volcanics.JPG)
Philip True was from
San Fernando
San Fernando may refer to:
People
*Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia
Places Argentina
*San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and he attended both the
Los Angeles Valley College
Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District.
The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often call ...
and the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
, where he graduated in 1970.
After college he was a dock worker and union representative, as well as a drywaller.
While in his forties, True became a journalist, first for the ''
Brownsville Herald
''The Brownsville Herald'' is a newspaper based in Brownsville, Texas, circulating in the Cameron County area.
Jesse O. Wheeler, a newspaperman from Victoria, purchased Brownsville's ''Cosmopolitan'' newspaper in 1892 and renamed it the ''Browns ...
'' in 1990 and then for the ''San Antonio Express-News'' after 1992.
As a reporter for the ''San Antonio Express-News'', he had worked the
Laredo bureau and then became its correspondent in Mexico City, Mexico.
His most notable works of journalism were his coverage of the
Chiapas conflict
The Chiapas conflict (Spanish: ''Conflicto de Chiapas'') comprises the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 1995 Zapatista crisis and ensuing tension between the Mexican state and the indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers of Chiapas from the 1990 ...
and
Pope John Paul II's visit Visit refer as go to see and spend time with socially.
Visit may refer to:
*State visit, a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country
*Conjugal visit, in which a prisoner is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visit ...
to
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
in January 1998.
Philip and Martha True were married for 7 years and had lived in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
since 1996. Martha, a native Mexican from
Matamoros, worked as the head of a nonprofit environmental agency in Mexico City. When True traveled to learn more about the Huichol Indians, Martha was four months pregnant with their first child. The couple had one son, Teo.
Disappearance and death
Philip True had been a correspondent for ''San Antonio Express-News'' in Mexico City for three years in Mexico City.
He twice tried to convince his editor to let him pursue a story about the Huichol Indians, who lived in a settlement in the
Sierra Madre
Sierra Madre (Spanish, 'mother mountain range') may refer to:
Places and mountains Mexico
*Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain range in northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona
*Sierra Madre Oriental, a mountain range in northeastern Mexico
*S ...
. After reviewing the idea, Fred Bonativa turned it down, and so True decided to work on it during his vacation time.
True planned a ten-day trip that would take him through the state of Jalisco to
Nayarit
Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...
state. He started his journey 1 December 1998 in
Tuxpan, Jalisco, was last seen 4 December in Chalmotita, Jalisco, and his wife reported him missing on 10 December.
After the initial search for True failed, Robert Rivard, editor of the ''San Antonio Express-News'', convinced the President's office to commit resources to the search and afterward the missing person announcement was widely publicized. Margarito Díaz, a Huichol hunter, announced he had found a body and guided the party to the site.
The Mexican army located True's corpse 16 December 1998 inside a 330-foot deep mountain ravine in the Chapalagana Canyon (Translated from Huichol: "Canyon of the Twisted Serpent') on the Jalisco-Nayarit border.
True's corpse had been moved between the time Díaz first spotted it and the arrival of the search part.
The corpse was found in his sleeping bag alongside a river and was covered in dirt with his neck wrapped with his bandanna.
At first, the media reported True had accidentally fallen into the ravine, but Jalisco's coroner told
Televisa
Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
network news that the autopsy indicated True had been murdered.
Investigations
The investigations focused on Juan Chivarra de la Cruz, 28, and Miguel Hernandez de la Cruz, 24, two men of Huichol heritage who were brothers-in-law. After the arrest, the two confessed, but would later recant, initially saying they had killed True for taking unauthorized photographs or that he had trespassed on Huichol lands or that he had shown disrespect to their relatives.
The first of the two autopsies performed on True in Jalisco, Mexico revealed that he was strangled with his own bandanna. The autopsy further revealed signs of torture, which was inconsistent with the confession. The autopsy also uncovered signs that he had been bludgeoned perhaps with a stick. Cuts and bruises all over True's arms could have indicated torture or some kind of defensive wounds. The report concluded that True was dead before he ended up in the deep ravine.
The second autopsy was performed in Mexico City where an FBI forensics expert was to observe the autopsy. Toxicology reports showed that True had a higher than normal blood alcohol level at the time of his death and detected trace amounts of aminovalerico, which is an over-the-counter derivative of a local plant used as a stimulant in the Sierra. True could have used this medication to suppress the effects of high altitude and low temperatures. An injury not located in the first autopsy report was a blow to the back, behind his right lung, which could have caused True to lose consciousness and to stop breathing while his lungs filled with fluid.
The report could also be interpreted as a fall caused the blunt trauma.
A third forensics report revised the previous two autopsy reports. The report's findings were that True suffered a pulmonary edema which resulted from a head injury and could be interpreted that he was not strangled.
By April 1999, Juan Chivarra told True's former newspaper that they had made statements under the duress of pressure from police.
Legal proceedings
The case against Chivarra and Hernandez changed after Miguel Gatins, an American businessman, intervened on their behalf. Gatins lived in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, as his father had been a hotelier there, and then he resided in Guadalajara. After taking an interest in the case, Gatins was convinced based on contradictions in their interrogation and in the autopsies that there was no conclusive proof that murder had been committed. Gatins spent
US $30,000 and worked through his philanthropic organization, Latin American Institute of Philanthropy, to acquire representation to make motions on their behalf. The head of a social service prepared the case. A member of the human rights commission in Jalisco wrote in support of the Huichol men. In 2001, lawyers presented a case to judges that evidence pointed to falling and after a closed hearing to review the evidence, judges released the two men.
In May 2002, the case went to the state appeals court. Those judges reversed the acquittal and handed down a 13-year sentence, but because of further appeals, the now convicted men remained free while their appeal could run its course.
In February 2003, the federal appeals court found fault with a judge in the lower court that had remained on the case after a request for recusal and so the case was sent back to the state and the convictions were also scrapped.
In November 2003, Gatins reversed his decision to support the men on the basis that new evidence had convinced him of the men's guilt.
By 2004, the state appeals court had reinstated the conviction, sentenced the men to 20 years ''in absentia'', and also set a sum for damages; however, the men had disappeared after their 2001 release.
The case currently remains unresolved until the two men can be located.
Reactions
Mexican President
Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...
first offered government resources to find True after he had disappeared and later ordered an investigation into the murder the U.S. reporter.
After Zedillo, President Vicente Fox intervened in support of the family.
Miguel Gatins and Robert Rivard questioned whether the Mexican justice system worked. While Gatins originally supported the two Huichol men, he argued that Mexican justice did work when it freed them, while Rivard made the case that justice would not be served if guilty parties were freed. Martha True said she had been disappointed by the closed process and was surprised when the 2001 release. By the end of 2003, Gatins had switched his support to Rivard and True's position.
Awards
* Philip True Awards: After his murder, the ''San Antonio Express-News'' created an internal award for staff whereby the paper's journalists are judged by their peers in categories.
Book
Robert Rivard, ''Trail of Feathers: Searching for Philip True: A Reporter's Murder in Mexico and His Editor's Search for Justice'' New York: Public Affairs, 2005.
See also
*
List of journalists killed in Mexico
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists and among the ones with the highest levels of unsolved crimes against the press. Though the exact figures of those killed are often conflicting, press freedom organization ...
*
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...
*
Brad Will
Bradley Roland Will (June 14, 1970 – October 27, 2006) was an American activist, videographer and journalist. He was affiliated with Indymedia. On October 27, 2006, during a labor dispute in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, Will was shot twice, ...
*
Disappearance of Zane Plemmons
*
Armando Montaño
References
External links
Statements from Miguel Gatins, Martha True, and Robert Rivard(Nov 25, 2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:True, Philip
1948 births
1998 deaths
Journalists from Texas
University of California, Irvine alumni
Assassinated American journalists
Journalists killed in Mexico
Murdered American journalists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
20th-century American male writers