July 17, 2001
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK
BANCO NACIONAL de MÉXICO, S.A.
Plaintiff,
v. Index No. 00603429
MARIO RENATO MENÉNDEZ RODRIGUEZ,
AL GIORDANO, and
THE NARCO NEWS BULLETIN,
Defendants.
____________________________________________
THIRD AFFIDAVIT OF AL GIORDANO
I, Al Giordano, being duly sworn, depose and say:
1. The Banamex complaint exhibits with my allegedly defamatory
statements are not complete because: (a) they do not indicate
the placement of "links" to the recited supporting
information upon which my protected opinion is based, and (b)
only some of the Narco News Bulletin articles are appended. Therefore,
the context in which the statements were made is lacking.
2. In Internet parlance, a "link" is an underlined
set of words on an image that when the user places his "cursor"
over that spot on the page, the cursor (usually an arrow) converts
to another symbol (usually a pointing hand) indicating that the
"link" may be clicked to bring the reader to a new
page where the important background information appears.
3. There are scores of such links throughout the allegedly
defamatory statements cited in the Banamex complaint, and hundreds
throughout the work Narco News Bulletin as a whole.
4. I am submitting a complete set of all the articles and
columns from www.narconews.com (with all the links which were
omitted from the Banamex exhibits) to the court for the relevant
time period between the first date of Narco News Bulletin's publication--April
18, 2000--and the date that Banamex filed suit on August 9, 2000.
The complete work is attached as Exhibit A.
5. There are 82 "web pages" (or articles) containing
commentary (not including the front page, links or letters pages)
in Exhibit A.
6. Exhibit A provides the full context of the statements
alleged to be defamatory by Banamex (Banamex complaint, Exhibits
B through I).
7. It is only by reviewing Exhibit A that the Court will
be able to understand the links. The most important were repeated
links to the newspaper Por Esto! (as well as El Universal, La
Jornada and other major Mexican dailies), repeated links to my
May 1999 Boston Phoenix article (Giordano Affidavit filed with
memorandum in support of motion to dismiss, Exhibit C), and links
to other documents, such as the periodical Money Laundering Alert,
that provided the supporting information that would allow the
reader to view the facts upon which I based my opinions and make
his or her own decision.
8. It is necessary to review Exhibit A to appreciate the
"full context" of the allegedly defamatory statements
on Narco News Bulletin, as well as to see how I disclosed the
information upon which my protected opinions were based.
9. The exhibits to the Banamex complaint do contain copies
of graphic images--such as a photo of cocaine seized on the properties
of Roberto Hernandez--that do not appear in Exhibit A. Thus the
Court should use both sets of exhibits in tandem to gain a full
understanding and context of the statements in question.
10. The full context will reveal that the entire work named
Narco News Bulletin is a work of argument and opinion about the
war on drugs in Latin America and, that for the relevant time
period, the majority of the work is about Mexico.
11. The "Opening Statement" of Narco News Bulletin
(Exhibit A, "The Mexico Papers," pp. 8-12) clearly
states that the work "does not claim objectivity,"
but is argument and opinion.
12. The articles concerning Roberto Hernandez were written
after I had conducted interviews with individuals the majority
of whom reside in Mexico. These include but are not limited to
Por Esto! reporters and individuals familiar with Mario Menendez
and his credibility. These individuals corroborated the Por Esto!
stories and Mr. Menendez's credibility.
13. The Narco News Bulletin website indicates that its publisher--I,
Al Giordano--"collaborates" with the Lindesmith Center.
That collaboration has consisted of work, unrelated to Narco
News Bulletin or to this lawsuit, for that organization. Narco
News Bulletin has never had any relationship with the Lindesmith
Center.
14. Shortly after first publishing Narco News Bulletin, in
April 2000, I received an invitation to "affiliate"
Narco News Bulletin with The Media Channel. There are, today,
more than 600 affiliates of The Media Channel, including 78 from
Great Britain, 123 from the rest of Europe, 41 from Asia, 30
from Canada, 23 from Africa and 14 from Latin America.
15. No financial or other relationship exists as a result
of the affiliation with The Media Channel. The affiliation consists
simply of a link to that website and represents a show of support
for independent media.
16. Although a fundraising solicitation appeared on the links
page of Narco News for LiveArt1st, LiveArt1st did not receive
any funds from New York or any other place as a result of that
solicitation from the date Narco News Bulletin first began publishing
to the date of the filing of the lawsuit.
17. During the entire relevant time period, my data center,
or host server, was located in Maryland.
18. I have lived in Mexico legally, pursuant to visas, since
September 1998.
Dated: July 12, 2001 ___________________________
Al Giordano
This affidavit is in support
of:
"Third Affidavit
by Al Giordano"
Affidavit by Raj Dutt
of Voxel.net
And a New Exhibit:
"The Mexico Papers,"
by Al Giordano
This memorandum and accompanying
exhibits are offered to the Court in support of:
Which were filed together
in April 2000 with:
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Opinions
Based on Disclosed Facts