Alejandro Junco de la Vega, arguably Mexico’s most innovative and respected newspaper publisher, stunned conference participants by disclosing for the first time publically that he had moved his family from Mexico to a safe haven in the U.S. because of threats from drug gangsters.

Junco de la Vega’s Reforma group—a conglomerate of seven leading Mexican newspapers—is beset by constant threat of retaliation from drug gangsters. “The more we expose their activities, the harder they push back,” he said in a keynote luncheon address. “Life is cheap. They push hard.”

Junco de la Vega said the toll on Mexico was even worse then most realize. Only by mixing the most lurid television shows and movies depicting drug violence would one get “a pretty good taste of Mexico as it is today.”

Junco de la Vega said his papers are committed to continue covering crime and corruption because he feels an obligation to protect civil society and “there is not a criminal in the world that can scare us silent.”But his papers no longer list bylines of reporters, who live under constant threat. Reporters, executives and their families take evasive action daily, such as altering their travel routes.

The problem runs much deeper than just drug crimes and fixing it will require radical changes in Mexico’s government and civil society—elimination of political corruption, greater transparency in the justice system and an increase in personal liberties. “Daily life is Kafkaesque,” Junco de la Vega said.