Veracruz remains the undisputed champion of one thing: the state with the most journalists murdered in all of Mexico. Since 2000, 32 media workers have been killed in homicides linked to their work, according to Article 19. The shooting death of journalist Luis Ángel López Valdez early Thursday morning brings the total to 33. Just days earlier, on June 2, Mexico witnessed the chilling kidnapping of journalist Roxana Berenice Guzmán, which she herself recorded on video and whose whereabouts remain unknown.
These two events, occurring within days of each other, confirm that, regardless of the ruling party, Veracruz continues to be the most inhospitable and deadly land for the press. Organizations such as Article 19 and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have demanded that the Mexican government expedite the investigations into both cases and bring those responsible to justice.
Shortly before being murdered in the municipality of Poza Rica, López Valdez was driving his taxi, a stark example of the precarious working conditions faced by reporters in the provinces. Outside the relative oasis of Mexico City, it is not uncommon for journalists to hold a second or even a third job to supplement their income. A crime reporter and correspondent for Vanguardia, López Valdez was driving his taxi late at night. A security camera captured his last moments alive, as he ran from an attacker. According to the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office, the killer, who was apparently a passenger in the same car, shot López Valdez 18 times.
The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that it continues to analyze López Valdez’s cell phone, searching for clues that will lead to solving the crime, to determine who called him last or if he had made arrangements with anyone.
Vanguardia reports, citing the Veracruz Secretary of Government, Ricardo Ahued, that one of the lines of investigation into his murder is a complaint the reporter had filed against members of the Public Security Secretariat for alleged harassment against him. Ninety-eight percent of these crimes go unpunished and unsolved. In January of this year, also in Poza Rica, Carlos Leonardo Ramírez Castro, director of the news website Código Norte, which focuses on crime reporting, was shot and killed.
