On May 21, 2025, the Regional Office for Mexico and Central America of the international non-governmental organization Article 19 condemned the threats directed against journalist Adela Navarro Bello, co-director general of the weekly ZETA, a media outlet based in Tijuana, Baja California, “who has covered drug trafficking, corruption, politics, and organized crime for decades.”
“The journalist has received eight threatening phone calls between April 29 and May 16, 2025. In all of the calls, a male voice repeats the same message: ‘Tell Adela Navarro to take care of herself,’ and then immediately hangs up. The messages have been directed to both old lines and the weekly newspaper’s main switchboard, which does not have caller ID, which has made it difficult to determine their origin,” revealed the international NGO, whose director is Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez.
“According to the journalist’s testimony shared with Article 19, in the first calls, a noticeable echo could be heard, as if the caller were in an empty room. In the most recent calls, the background noise suggested they were made from an open area, possibly in motion, with wind noise similar to that of a motorcycle. This could also imply calls from multiple sources or individuals,” the international non-governmental organization said in a statement. “It should be noted that Navarro reported these events to the Baja California State Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSCBC), but to date, no investigation has been initiated or an effective response provided. The lack of institutional action increases the risk to the journalist and her team, who continue to publish information of high public interest,” the international NGO emphasized.
