Four Years After the Murder of Miroslava Breach, the Road to Justice is Far From Concluding

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Wednesday marked the fourth year death anniversary. What will it take for her killers to face justice?

It has been four years since Chihuahua journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea was murdered while she drove her three children to school. Her sister and several civil organizations that have followed the case continue to demand that everyone involved in her murder is arrested. But the road to get there is far from over.

One of the main suspects in the murder case is Hugo Amed Schultz Alcaraz, the former mayor of Chinipas, Chihuahua, who investigators say was working with the criminal group called Los Salazar and planned her murder. His case has been postponed several times and there is no definite date for the next hearing.

Investigators say that at least three assassins participated in the killing. Ramon Andres Zavala Corral, the man who pulled the trigger, was killed in December 2017 in Sonora.

But two other men accompanied him in the getaway vehicle: Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa ('El Larry') and Wilberth Jaciel Vega Villa, the grandson of imprisoned cartel boss Jesus Alfredo Salazar Ramirez ('El Muñeco'). El Larry was sentenced to 50 years in prison last August for the murder but Vega Villa is still a fugitive.

"During this time they have shown us how dangerous it is to raise our voices and demand justice. Our conviction and moral commitment for Miroslava makes us move forward (...) Our pain has learned to be patient because we have discovered that we are not alone. There are many voices that have joined us because achieving justice for Miroslava is achieving justice for hundreds of journalists who have been killed in Mexico and other parts of the world," Breach's sister Rosa Maria said in a video shared on Facebook.

The organizations that accompany and help in Breach's murder case recognize that the road to justice will get more complicated as the case progresses. There are big steps in the investigation that is underway; steps that are far more complex: arresting those who masterminded the attack and treading through Mexico's so-called narcopolitica.

Background

Breach was the correspondent for the national newspaper La Jornada in Chihuahua. According to the office of the Federal Special Prosecutor for Attention to Crimes committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE), Breach was targeted for her critical reporting on links between local politicians and criminal gangs in the rural Sierra Tarahumara region in western Chihuahua.

She reported that Los Salazar was attempting to have its members elected as mayors in several towns in Chihuahua. Many of these candidates were from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN).

In an article published on 5 March 2016 in La Jornada, Breach said that Chínipas mayoral applicant Juan Miguel Salazar Ochoa was the nephew of Crispin Salazar Zamorano, the leader of Los Salazar.

According to the criminal investigation, the final decision to assassinate her allegedly was made after former mayor Shultz Alcaraz and a local party leader gave the criminals a recording of a telephone call in which the journalist acknowledged, with her sources, the publication of the article. According to recordings from the Chihuahua prosecutor's office, Breach received a call from Schultz Alcaraz asking her to reveal her sources.

On Thursday morning of 23 March 2017, Breach was shot eight times outside her home. Her three children were not injured but Breach died while being transported to the hospital.

Source: Proceso; La Jornada; Jan-Albert Hootsen; CPJ; Borderland Beat archives