Publisher of Mexico City Paper Is Arrested, Charged in Tax Case

The publisher of a major Mexico City newspaper noted for printing opposition as well as pro-government opinion was arrested and taken before a judge Friday on tax evasion charges.

Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, publisher of El Universal, turned himself in at the attorney general’s office in response to a warrant.

Minutes later, Ealy was arrested. Federal police escorted him in a bulletproof utility vehicle to a criminal court at a northern Mexico City prison.

In a statement, the newspaper called the charges against Ealy “the culmination of a series of governmental pressures against the pluralistic and democratic line of this daily.”

The federal treasury department said Ealy owes taxes of $1.7 million on underreported personal income in 1994 and 1995, and $3.7 million in withheld employee income taxes that were not turned over to the government last year.

Armed police surrounded El Universal’s offices Thursday night and stopped Ealy’s car as it arrived, newspaper workers said. But Ealy was not in the car, and police instead detained his personal assistant, Marco Antonio Medina.

The newspaper reacted angrily, saying, “The growing escalation of pressure and aggressions orchestrated against the newspaper are motivated by the government’s aim to silence the critical and committed editorial line taken by this editorial house.”

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El Universal is one of Mexico’s larger newspapers. It was founded in 1916, during the Mexican Revolution. In recent years, the newspaper has been noted for an opinion page that features opposition party columnists as well as pro-government viewpoints.

The treasury department also announced that the imprisoned brother of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Raul Salinas de Gortari, underreported his 1992 tax liability by at least $662,000. Raul Salinas is on trial on murder and corruption charges.