"El Huaso" for Borderland Beat
This morning, June 29 around 9 a.m., journalist Antonio de la Cruz was shot and killed in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas. The events occurred in the Ampliación Zamatán neighborhood of Ciudad Victoria while he was walking to work with his wife, who was gravely injured but is alive.
Antonio de la Cruz wrote for Expreso, a regional news outlet focused on northern Mexico. He reported on agricultural crime and environmental exploitation, a sector that is increasingly exploited by criminal groups in Mexico. He was not afraid of publicly challenging authority and the government, most recently criticizing the mayor of Reynosa for governing from the United States.
When interviewed by reporters, Tamaulipas representative Gustavo Cárdenas confirmed the assassination, and alleged that the government is behind the killing, saying: "the primary suspects are the state government". No suspects have been officially named by investigators yet.
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A Facebook Live video of the aftermath shows police tape and motorcycles cordoning off the crime scene. |
No one wants to comment on this one, become we all have gotten adapted to journist being killed in Mexico on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteIs there anything we can do as writers to get you guys more interested in these stories? Discuss their work more? Cover their life story? Or discuss the likely culprits? Talk about the impact on their families and communities?
DeleteIt's sad that Mexico has the most journalists killed in a non war zone and us Americans don't give a shit. We as a whole are just as complicit
DeleteHEARST you did fine, I was just commenting, that because journalist get killed so often, we get immune to reading and hearing it, that no one comments about it.Antonio Cruz RIP
DeleteJust to be clear, I didn't cover this, El Huaso did and he did a great job, as always.
DeleteI believe all of us contributors have written/posted about the murder of a journalist at some point though. And we can see that you guys don’t click on these stories as often. We keep posting about murdered journalists because the views don’t matter when a topic is this important, of course.
But basically, is there anything we can do in the future that would make you guys more compelled to take an interest? More interest in a story means more heat is brought down upon the cartel that did this and more public pressure on institutions to protect journalists in the future.
Can you make a map of all that have been killed by year, decade etc?
DeleteI could try that, yeah. Maybe I can rope El Huaso into help me with it because he's very good with data.
DeleteHEARST out of all the journist that have been killed, that stands out is Valdez of Rio Doce, he wrote the truth of government being imbedded with cartels and many other articles, he minded his own business and got gunned down in broad daylight. The criminals were not caught. Later they scapegoated two borrachos, to say they killed him.
DeleteUnfortunately it has become commonplace. Thanks for reading!
DeleteOrale Huaso, thank you for contributions.
Delete@7:45 Something was a little off about your comment. I did some research and found this BB article contributed by Yaqui.
Delete"Borderland Beat: Journalist Javier Valdez's Murderer Sentenced to 32 Years" http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2021/06/journalist-javier-valdezs-murderer.html?m=1
Hearst. This is MX. You may find this Wikipedia article useful.
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_and_media_workers_killed_in_Mexico
I used to work this long list for many years with a few university professors. I don’t keep up with it anymore since it was very hard to stay current, and it is very outdated in the past few years, but I hope it helps. I’m quite familiar with some cases, especially the ones in Matamoros.
I don’t have access to my ProtonMail for whatever reason but I’ll try to reach out soon.
@MX, great to hear from you! I hope you are doing well and in good health!
DeleteHEARSTJune 29, 2022 at 4:31 PM
DeleteIs there anything we can do as writers to get you guys more interested in these stories? Discuss their work more? Cover their life story? Or discuss the likely culprits? Talk about the impact on their families and communities?
Just an idea, I wouldn't expect you to do it considering the time and lack of resources. How about attaching articles written by the killed journalist. I think this would draw in more readers and give us insight as to what lead up to their demise. Just a suggestion, I imagine it would be very difficult to pull off.
@MX
DeleteSounds good. Will look into it.
@10:06AM
I think that's a very good idea. That's always the question in my mind when I hear about a murdered journalist. What were they covering recently? Who were they covering? Which groups did they likely piss off with their good journalism? I will see if I can incorporate this in the future.
On the US, the muckrakers are exposing crap, and not really anonymously, Cawthorn is gone now, boebbert is mad at them, mgt is hiding, like many other MAGNA rats...
DeleteHearst you rock. This story is sad because these journalists are not doing it for $ but for their passion to spread truth and awareness of crime. The cartels don't fear any punishment so unfortunately this will continue.
ReplyDeleteJournalists like Mr de la Cruz and those at BB are heroes.
DeleteThanks for reading!
DeleteThanks for sharing, H. Ever since Norma Alicia Moreno Figueroa, journalists in Tamaulipas have been targeted and the government does nothing about it. Tamaulipas is one of the states with the worst freedom of the press in Mexico. RIP to all.
ReplyDeleteWhen Gabe Martinez was killed this January, it felt like a kick to my head. The night prior I had been watching him on a documentary. It's just sad. These guys get paid a pittance, GM worked around the clock to support his family on a meager income. It's sad, these reporters that are killed die with so much integrity and it's quickly swept up by those in power etc. There is nothing else I can say.
ReplyDeleteJournalists should keep their identities secret, confidential, classified, and try to live without attracting attention to themselves, for their own good and their families, it doesn't pay to be an opponent of a politician who wants to live on the US and let everybody know about it, or any other gossip.
ReplyDeleteGo back to sleep.
DeleteSometimes anonymity carries with it lower perceived credibility. Some reporters may rely on being known, trusted, and recognizable in their communities.
DeleteThere was an article hear a week ago, about a female journalist writing about the river of death, where they throw dead bodies. Her full name was published, the picture posing to the camera, without her face being masked. Someone commented she is a sitting duck to be killed. Sol loved the picture so much, he had a 20x30 inch printed up and hangs in his office, then James Brown fell in love with the picture.
DeleteMany come for the violence and some come for Mexico.
DeleteI have a lot of respect for journalists (not all) and what they do and that they still do it.
DEP
love and appreciate your work and TIME.
La Rana
Sir go back to sleep forget taking apart washing machines. Go to sleep. BB will still be here when you wake up.
DeleteI got a tweet some said I notice you have good material we should share our material and thoughts and maybe find out the true of Carteles in Mexico ? Lol the truth means Death. RIP journalists.even bloggers and social media pages run at risk the people that wash their hands with this Carteles are very powerful and dangerous.
ReplyDelete