The body of a Mexican journalist who had reported on the country’s cartels and smuggling organizations was found decapitated this week in what is the fifth-known killing of a member of the press this year in Mexico, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Julio Valdivia Rodriguez, a local reporter who had worked for seven years for Diario El Mundo, was found Wednesday near the train tracks in Tezonapa, Veracruz, in eastern Mexico. The 41-year-old man’s body and head were recovered several feet apart from his motorcycle, which bore his company’s logo. His employer said investigators told them that he had been beheaded and his body transferred to the railway. Investigators will consider if Valdivia Rodriguez’s work was related to the crime.
The police believe Valdivia Rodriguez was assassinated. He had focused on crime, accidents, and natural disasters in the region. His final story was published Monday and detailed an armed clash between law enforcement officers and a cartel in a residential area.
El reportero Julio Valdivia fue asesinado en Veracruz, confirma el diario donde trabajaba, ‘El Mundo de Córdoba’. Su director reclama que “nos enoja que siga pasando lo mismo en este país, sobre todo en este Estado, sin importar quién gobierne”https://t.co/B4TGMTuZfi
— EL PAÍS México (@elpaismexico) September 10, 2020
On Thursday, residents gathered in the town square to call for justice for Valdivia Rodriguez and other members of the media who have been killed in recent years. RWB described Veracruz as one of the most dangerous states in Mexico. Ten journalists were killed in Mexico last year, making it the most dangerous place to report in the world.
Transnational criminal organizations smuggle migrants, drugs, money, and guns through Latin America and into the United States, as well as south of the border. The criminal gangs fight for control of travel routes. The cartels are expanding control over their local territories by extorting vulnerable populations and aiding others to gain favor and potential recruits. Last November, President Trump said he would designate the organizations as foreign terrorist organizations, but he halted the plan weeks later.
#Galería En Córdoba, Orizaba y Xalapa se desarrollaron movilizaciones para condenar el asesinato del reportero Julio Valdivia Rodríguez, ocurrido en Tezonapa, Veracruz. pic.twitter.com/wmARvuzMIl
— Red Veracruzana de Periodistas (@RVDPeriodistas) September 10, 2020
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and RWB both condemned the killing and called for the Mexican government to carry out justice.
“A crime of such brutality cannot go unpunished,” RWB Latin American Bureau Chief Emmanuel Colombie said in a statement. “The Veracruz authorities must lose no time in identifying this murder’s perpetrators and instigators and should focus their investigation on a link with the victim’s journalistic work.”
Rodriguez had six children.
