Journalist José Luis Gamboa Arenas murdered in Veracruz

The journalist from Veracruz José Luis Gamboa Arenas, director of the digital media Inforegio.RRSS

Journalist José Luis Gamboa Arenas was murdered on January 10 in the Port of Veracruz. His death was confirmed days later by the State Commission for Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP), which has demanded an investigation from the Veracruz Prosecutor's Office to clarify whether the attack with a knife suffered by the director of

was due to his research. Gamboa is the first communicator killed this year in Mexico, which has become the deadliest country in the world for the press. In 2021, nine reporters died violently.

He was wearing blue jeans and a brown shirt when the body of José Luis Gamboa was found stabbed on a street in the Floresta subdivision, south of the Port of Veracruz, according to local media reports. The identification of the journalist did not take place until January 14. The CEAPP has urged the State Prosecutor's Office to implement the Protocol for the Investigation of Crimes Against Freedom of Expression while the investigations continue.

Gamboa came from a reputable family of journalists in Veracruz. His father, Apolonio Gamboa, was the founder of the newspaper

of which José Luis was director; his brother Polo was also a distinguished communicator in the state. In 2003, the murdered reporter had founded a weekly news page called

or

, in which he posted articles on political information and events. In addition, he was very active on his Twitter account and uploaded video editorials to YouTube.

In these three outlets, Gamboa shared the alleged connections between organized crime and the political elites of Veracruz: "The tragedy of Mexico is that what is subjugating the country by municipalities is drug trafficking, instead of fighting it, the entire structure of governmental powers is linked in a great criminal association”.

His accusations were direct and reached the former governor of Veracruz, Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares, and his relatives, all linked to the mayor's offices of different municipalities of the State. “The Port of Veracruz has been under the domination of international crime for 35 years. The CJNG operates in the port area, where families of political power are linked, including the Yunes," wrote the journalist, who insisted over and over again in his articles that Veracruz had become the gateway for fentanyl to the United States. .

Although the CEAPP has confirmed that there were no previous reports of threats against the reporter, Gamboa was aware of the danger of his statements: “From the moment that the Mexican press exhibits or points to links between political or business actors with drug trafficking, the authority must proceed to the investigation, and the reverse happens, the State and its institutions investigate and persecute the journalist, if they don't kill him first”.

Mexico is the deadliest country in the world for the press, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Jan-Albert Hoosten, a CPJ representative, explained to EL PAÍS that Mexico is the only nation where the levels of lethal violence against journalists have not changed, but rather remain the same with the different governments: “Violence is a constant. And the conclusion after three years of the López Obrador government is that not only has he not been able to solve the dozens of murders of journalists, defenders and activists, but he has done very little to prevent them.”

The organization, which has been keeping a global count of these attacks since 1992, registered 138 murders in Mexico until the end of 2021.

Article 19, a Mexican organization that defends freedom of expression, computes even higher figures: 145 since 2000.

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