Javier Valdez Cardenas, Famed Narco Chronicler, Killed in Culiacan, Sinaloa Deborah Bonello - InSight Crime
go to original May 16, 2017

Prominent journalist Javier Valdez shot dead in Mexico (Al Jazeera English)

Journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, one of Mexico's most prominent chroniclers of drug trafficking and organized crime, was shot dead in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on May 15. His slaying marks a new low in violence against journalists, a new high in the confidence of their killers and the latest dark milestone in Mexico's drug war.

Early news reports said that Valdez, 50, was walking towards his car at around midday when a vehicle pulled up beside him and shot him several times. He fell to the ground not far from the offices of the newspaper that he founded, Ríodoce, and was declared dead at the scene.

Pictures from the crime scene showed Valdez's body lying in the middle of the road, covered by a blue sheet and surrounded by yellow plastic police cards marking where bullet shells had fallen. His emblematic Panama hat, which he often wore even during television interviews, was visible from underneath the sheet.

The charismatic Valdez was the winner of a number of national and international awards including the prestigious Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom prize. He was the author of many books on organized crime, narco culture and drug trafficking, and Ríodoce is widely considered a pioneering, independent publication.

A video interview with Valdez in 2012 (Univision Noticias)

"Where I work, Culiacán, in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, it is dangerous to be alive, and to do journalism is to walk on an invisible line drawn by the bad guys - who are in drug trafficking and in the government - in a field strewn with explosives," he said when he accepted the CPJ award in 2011. "This is what most of the country is living through. One must protect oneself from everything and everyone, and there do not seem to be options or salvation, and often there is no one to turn to."

His most recent book, "Narco Periodismo" (Narco Journalism), was about the experiences, realities and dangers of journalists covering drug trafficking in Mexico.

Following his death, shocked colleagues from home and abroad paid tribute to Valdez across social networks. Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto condemned Valdez's murder via his Twitter account.

Read the rest at InSight Crime

Related: Mexico Press Freedom: Javier Valdez, Murdered By Impunity (Mexico Voices)

Related: Journalists Protest, Mourn Killing of Mexican Reporter Javier Valdez Cárdenas (NBC News)

Related: Mexico Border Journalist Says Violence Is Worse Than Ever Seen Before (mySA)

Related: Separate Attacks Kill Mexican Reporter, Wound Magazine Executive in Mexico (The Nation)

Related: UNESCO Alerts on the Growing Media Concentration While Journalists Are Victims of Attacks (Latinamerica Press)

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