Mexicans hold vigil after top journalist slain in cartel heartland

Record ID: 876284

  • Title: Mexicans hold vigil after top journalist slain in cartel heartland
  • Date: 17th May 2017
  • Summary: PHOTO OF SLAIN JOURNALIST VALDEZ BY CANDLE
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2017 04:11
  • Keywords: Javier Valdez cartel drugs journalist Mexico Sinaloa Mexico City vigil corruption killed protest justice
  • Location: MEXICO CITY, ACAPULCO, GUERRERO, MEXICO
  • City: MEXICO CITY, ACAPULCO, GUERRERO, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA0046H86VCZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Dozens of journalists and their supporters gathered in Mexico City outside the Interior Ministry on Tuesday (May 16) to protest the death of a renowned Mexican journalist who was killed in the drug-ravaged state of Sinaloa.
    Javier Valdez was killed when assailants opened fire on his car in Sinaloa, according to RioDoce, the media outlet he co-founded and where he worked. He was the fifth reporter killed since March, making Mexico one of the deadliest countries for journalism at a time when murder rates are at their highest since the peak of the drug war in 2011.
    Valdez was one of Mexico's most well-known, and loved, chroniclers of the drug war, winning the International Press Freedom Award from watchdog group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2011 for his prolific coverage of trafficking and organised crime.
    News of his slaying shook Mexico's journalism community, already alarmed by a spike in attacks against the media this year.
    Valdez also contributed dispatches to the national daily La Jornada and published a book last year about the dangers facing journalists who report honestly on the rampant crime and corruption gripping Mexico.
    Many think Valdez' work got him killed.
    A special federal prosecutor's office tasked with crimes against freedom of expression said it had started the procedure for opening an inquiry and was sending a team to collect evidence in Sinaloa.
    In all Mexico, over 120 journalists have been killed since 2000, according to the country's National Commission on Human Rights.
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