Tagged: Miroslava Breach

Mexico ranked deadliest country for journalists, says international press institute

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby

A press freedom organization has ranked Mexico as the deadliest country for journalists, overtaking Iraq and Syria for the highest number of reporters who lost their lives while practicing their craft. On the day the report was published, gunmen murdered another journalist in Mexico.

A new report by the International Press Institute labels Mexico as the most dangerous place for journalists, citing the government’s lacking efforts to protect them.

The murder of journalists is “an attack on the fundamental human right to share and receive information and on democracy itself,” IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi said.

According to the IPI, since 2006, when the country started a new security strategy to fight drug cartels, 79 journalists have been murdered. In 2017, there were 13 that IPI accounted for with four targeted directly for their work. On the day the report was published, a team of gunmen murdered Gumaro Perez Aguilando as he attended his son’s Christmas Festival in Veracruz.

According to IPI, none of the recorded cases have been solved. As Breitbart Texas reported in 2017, cartel gunmen targeted various journalists including Miroslava Breach, an investigative reporter from Chihuahua, who uncovered deep connections between key members of the Juarez Cartel and local politicians.

Also in 2017, cartel gunmen murdered respected journalist Javier Valdez from Culiacan, Sinaloa. The slain journalist founded the news outlet Rio Doce and covered cartel violence for several years.

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Murdered Mexican journalist exposed cartel-government connection

(BREITBART) — by Ildefonso Ortiz

The murder of a respected journalist in the Mexican state of Chihuahua appears to be driven by her work exposing the close ties between government officials and the Juarez Cartel. One of those investigations pointed to the mother-in-law of a cartel boss trying to run for mayor, while others looked into how the former governor of that state protected certain criminal organizations.

Over the weekend, journalists held protests in Mexico City, Torreón, and Monterrey; calling for a stop to the impunity that surrounds the murder of their colleagues. The protests come after cartel gunmen shot Miroslava Breach moments after she dropped her children off at school. As Breitbart Texas reported, the gunmen left a poster board signed by a Juarez Cartel boss that said Breach had been murdered for being a “Lenguona” or loudmouth.

While Breach’s murder has received minimal attention from international media, journalists in Mexico that spoke with Breitbart Texas revealed that they are deeply concerned by the ongoing wave of violence targeting them. As Breitbart Texas has reported, Breach’s murder is the third of its kind this year. In recent years, various freedom of the press organizations such as Reporters Without Borders and Article 19 have labeled Mexico as one of the most dangerous places to work in.

Breitbart Texas spoke with representatives of the Network of Journalists in Mexico’s Northeast who expressed their concern and anger at the impunity with which journalism continues to be silenced in Mexico. The organization continues to call on the Mexican government to investigate and punish not only the triggermen, but also those who ordered the various murders.

New information published by Breach’s employer, La Jornada, revealed that her investigation exposed how Juarez Cartel boss Carlos Arturo “El 80” Quintana had tried to get his mother-in-law Silvia Mariscal Estrada to be elected as the mayor of Bachiniva, Chihuahua. Quintana is listed as a wanted fugitive by the U.S. Department of Justice after being named in a federal indictment accusing him of various drug trafficking and drug smuggling charges in connection with the Juarez Cartel.

The move had the blessing of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and would have likely been successful had it not been for Breach and some of her close colleagues who exposed the cartel ties. At the time of the publication of that investigation, Chihuahua was run by former Governor Cesar Duarte Jaquez, a member of the PRI that left the state under a perceived cloud of corruption and narco-collusion. Breach and other journalists had been working to expose the dealings of Duarte and his close allies.

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Second Mexican journalist murdered in one week, Juarez cartel implicated

(BREITBART) — A Mexican cartel appears to be behind the murder of a respected journalist in the border state of Chihuahua. At the crime scene, cartel members left a note stating that the murder was due to her reporting.

On Thursday morning, unknown gunmen shot Miroslava Breach, a career journalist who worked as an editor for El Norte and most recently for La Jornada. According to La Jornada, Breach was leaving her home at approximately 7:15 a.m. on Thursday morning in the city of Chihuahua when she was fatally shot. At the crime scene, the gunmen left behind a poster board that read “por lenguona. Sigue tu Gobernador. El 80”. The message in the sign claims that the reporter was murdered for saying too much and that the state governor was next.

The message was signed by “El 80”, pointing to Carlos Arturo Quintana, a top leader within the Juarez Cartel (Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel). As Breitbart Texas reported this week, Quintana’s gunmen are responsible for a fierce gun battle that killed at least 8 victims and spread terror and despair through the rural communities near Chihuahua. Quintana is wanted by the FBI as part of an ongoing federal case against him on multiple drug trafficking charges tied to the cartel.

Breach’s murder comes just days after Breitbart Texas reported that gunmen murdered Ricardo Monlui Cabrera, a journalist from Veracruz who was murdered as he walked with his wife.

As information about Breach’s murder began to be released, the Network of Journalists of Mexico’s Northeast (RPNM) expressed outrage for the apparent lack response by the Mexican government.

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