A trimmed beard, his characteristic hat and a voice that tries to resemble the original.
Javier Valdez, founding journalist of the
Riodoce
newspaper
,
from the State of Sinaloa
,
and
one of the most important names in the notes on drug trafficking and organized crime, was assassinated on May 15, 2017 in Culiacán.
This Thursday he reappeared in a video to denounce the situation of vulnerability experienced by journalists in Mexico, a country where more than 130 have been murdered since 2000. In the images he urges the authorities to take a step forward in the protection of these professionals.
However, the person in the video, who could clearly be the journalist, is a simulation.
It has been recreated by means of Russian technology to launch a message on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on November 2, which also coincides with the Day of the Dead.
Because #SeguimosHablando Javier Valdez sends a powerful message to President @lopezobrador_ three years after his assassination.
@EmbEspMex @UKinMexico @NLinMexico @AlemaniaMexi @SEGOB_mx @CEAVmex @EmilioAlvarezI @Rocio_BarreraB @tatclouthier @sergioaguayo @ONUMX @CarlosLoret pic.twitter.com/PRExwLv29l
- Propuesta Cívica AC (@PropuestaCivica) October 29, 2020
The initiative is called
#SeguimosHablando
, and this is its second edition, the first was in 2019. It consists of reopening the Twitter accounts of murdered journalists so that they continue to report the cases that cost them their lives.
Sara Mendiola, from the organization that has orchestrated the campaign, explains what it is based on: "It seeks to send the message that not because a journalist is murdered, he is going to stop talking."
And he adds: "The fact that they can with their body does not mean that they can with their voice."
In Mexico, murders against journalists have a level of impunity of around 90% and disappearances 100%, according to Mendiola.
They demand that the authorities of this country take measures that imply a "cessation" of violence and crimes, not only that of Valdez, but of the "hundreds" who "remain in impunity."
"In our country not a single case of disappearance of journalists has been clarified," says the organizer.
Javier Valdez was executed on his knees and with 12 shots
Along with the video, they have also published a decalogue in which a series of measures that could improve the performance of the work of the press in the Republic are exposed, such as a more effective coordination of all levels of the Administration, from the municipal even the federal.
They also denounce the attitude that the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, maintains against the press in the morning hours, which he accuses of being a “tabloid” and a “fifí”.
"It seeks to make a front against these discourses," says Mendiola.
Three years after his murder, there are three accused of being the material authors of the crime.
One of them, nicknamed El Koala, is already behind bars after having confessed.
The second implicated, Francisco Picos Barrieto, alias
El Quillo,
a judge accepted the evidence against him to open the trial on September 29 after several postponements due to the appeals presented by his defense and which were all dismissed.
And the third alleged implicated died before being captured in San Luis del Río Colorado, his remains confirmed his identity after a forensic analysis.
Griselda Triana is the widow of Javier Valdez.
Since the murder of her husband, she has maintained a crusade in which she demands justice and that the crime not go unpunished.
"In Javier's case there are several advances, there is one person sentenced and another awaiting the start of the trial," he says.
A third person implicated in the material execution of the crime was assassinated in northern Mexico before being captured by justice.
However, the mastermind of the crime, Dámaso López Serrano, alias
Mini Lic
, godson of Chapo Guzmán, is imprisoned in the United States for other crimes.
"That is where the whole process gets stuck, it will be very complex for this subject to be transferred to Mexico and respond as the person responsible for being the one who gave the order," says Triana.
Still, he says he maintains "some hope" in the process.
"They all deserve to be punished", sentence.
Regarding the appearance of her husband in the video, she affirms that she is calm: “Any action that allows us to continue making visible and remembering that Javier's crime, but also that of many of his colleagues, is in impunity, he pays for it. We lend ourselves so that the authorities know that they and their families are still talking.
Javier cannot be killed again, and here we continue ”.
Like Juan Carlos Livraga in
Operación Masacre
, by Rodolfo Walsh, another murdered journalist, Juan Valdez is a dead man who speaks from the dead and returns to strike hard and demand justice and freedom.
