Mexico's 'WikiLeaks' is already making a splash

MexicoLeaks was announced by star journalist Carmen Aristegui last week when she told her audience that her MVS radio team was part of the initiative.
The website uses encryption software to encourage would-be whistleblowers, who would normally fear retaliation, to anonymously send documents to an alliance of news outlets and civic groups in order to expose corruption in a country plagued by graft.
While MexicoLeaks has only begun to receive documents, it was Aristegui’s seemingly benign announcement that snowballed into a scandal.
MVS distanced itself from MexicoLeaks and fired two journalists before sacking Aristegui on Sunday, sparking accusations that one of the voices most critical of the government was being muzzled.
Aristegui, 51, revealed last year that President Enrique Pena Nieto’s wife had bought a mansion from a government contractor, raising conflict of interest allegations, which the government rejected.
Calling her dismissal an attack on freedom of speech, Aristegui suggests that her firing was planned by someone with “much power”. She says her team was investigating the finance minister and the army when they were fired.
MVS has denied coming under pressure from the government or seeking to silence Aristegui.
While Aristegui and MVS feud, MexicoLeaks is quietly amassing documents through its secure website.
Discussions to create MexicoLeaks began last year, with the help of Free Press Unlimited, a Dutch-based foundation that helps journalists in conflict zones.
A person with secrets to spill must download the special web browse Tor, which hides their location, to be able to send them through MexicoLeaks without being detected.
The whistleblower can choose to send the documents to one or more of the eight members of the alliance of civic groups and national news outlets. The organisations then launch investigations to verify the information before deciding to publish anything.
Eduard Martin-Borregon, a member of the Poder civic group that participates in MexicoLeaks, says his pro-transparency organisation is already investigating tips it has received since last week.
“With MexicoLeaks’ secure filter system, we hope that many acts of corruption and human rights violations that occur in Mexico – but are not exposed because people are afraid of reprisals – can be published by the press and prosecuted,” he says.
The 30-year-old Catalan refuses to give any details about the documents.
But, he says, “I think we won’t have to wait too long for the first leak.”
The MexicoLeaks website may also offer a model for citizens in other countries to call their under-scrutinised and corruption-prone institutions to account.