The Mexican journalist Antonio de la Cruz, in a photo from his social networks.RR SS
Journalist Antonio de la Cruz was riddled with bullets near his home on Wednesday morning.
A relative has been injured, according to the first reports from the authorities.
The reporter, who had been working for the newspaper
Expreso
for 15 years in the capital of Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, has become the 12th murder of journalists in the country.
And he has ranked this year as the bloodiest for the profession on record.
So far this year, they have been killed at a rate of two a month, almost always near their homes or places of work.
A tragedy that recalls why Mexico is the deadliest country in the world to practice the trade, without any authority putting a stop to violence against the press.
De la Cruz was leaving his house on Wednesday morning with his daughter, according to information from the media outlet for which he worked, when he was shot.
The young woman has been injured, says the
Expresso
.
The authorities of Tamaulipas, one of the most violent entities in the country, bordering the United States, have confirmed the facts, but have not provided more details of his death.
The deputy of the local Congress, Gustavo Cárdenas, from the Movimiento Ciudadano party, was the first authority to speak out about what happened: “The death of Toño de la Cruz is confirmed.
This is an action where the main suspects are State Government officials.
It pains my soul that we have lost a fellow member of the media in this way.
He was a good man, I have no doubt about the responsibility of the gentlemen of the State Government.
It is very sad and very unfortunate, that these bastards have murdered a family man.
Can't ignore.
We demand that the prosecutor clarify this situation.”
The deputy's words refer to a reality often silenced.
The general belief in crimes against the press almost always points to the power of drug traffickers, but international organizations that defend the rights of journalists, such as Article 19, have warned for years that the most recurrent threats against reporters come from public officials. and not so much of organized crime gunmen.
The close relationship between some local corrupt officials and the capos of the area also causes the environment of impunity in which these types of cases unfold, where more than 90% of the accused have not received a sentence.
In general, for any crime, impunity in Mexico is around 95%.
Crimes against the press this year became a big stain on the file of the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The European Parliament came to condemn the situation of extreme violence in which reporters work in the country and the inaction of the authorities in a document approved by the Chamber in March.
The president, who at that time already had eight professionals riddled with bullets and little progress in the investigations, accused his political opponents of being allied with European conservatives to damage his image.
The journalists had been planted in some daily press conferences of the president.
And it was the first time in almost 800 press conferences in which they came together to ask for justice for their colleagues, there were no more questions.
After the murders against journalists became a topic on the national and international agenda, they continued to kill them.
The last ones, Luis Enrique Ramírez, in Culiacán (Sinaloa), at the beginning of May;
and the double murder of Yesenia Mollinedo and Johana García, in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, a week later.
De la Cruz has become the latest victim of a hunt against the press that continues.
Well, in addition to the bullets, many other provincial reporters have denounced threats, others have been displaced or have asked for protection from the weak Federal and State Government Protection Mechanism that has been of little use to many others, such as Lourdes Maldonado, murdered in January in Tijuana.
subscribe here
to the
newsletter
of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country