Mexican journalist who reported on Cartel has been found beheaded
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The beheaded body of a Mexican journalist was found near a railway track in Veracruz, Mexico last week: local police believe Julio Valdivia Rodriguez was assassinated for reporting on a local cartel. This was the fifth known killing of a journalist in Mexico this year, the Washington Examiner reports. Ten journalists were killed in Mexico last year.
Valdivia Rodriguez’s final story was published on Monday last week; it was about an armed fight between cartel members and law enforcement officers. The 41-year-old father of six had focused his reporting on crime, accidents and natural disasters, the Washington Post said.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Veracruz is one of Mexico’s most dangerous states in which to work as a journalist. Valdivia Rodriguez’s head was found close to his body by train tracks in Tezonapa, Veracruz.
“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.” The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also condemned the murder and called on the Mexican government to carry out justice.
Local residents, too, have called for justice for Valdivia Rodriguez and for other members of the press who have been killed in Mexico.