Crime reporter Julio Valdivia found decapitated in Veracruz

Crime reporter Julio Valdivia was murdered and decapitated in Veracruz. The newspaper he worked for reported the news on Wednesday.

The newspaper “El Mundo,” based in Córdoba, said the body of reporter Julio Valdivia was found near his motorcycle on railroad tracks in the town of Tezonapa, Veracruz .

Valdivia, who covered a rural zone near the border with Oaxaca state that has long been plagued by gang violence , was at least the sixth journalist to be killed in Mexico this year.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the “terrible events” and issued an “urgent call” for authorities to identify those responsible.

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In August, an independent journalist died in police custody in a Mexican border city. Juan Nelcio Espinoza had been arrested while covering a confrontation in the city of Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Espinoza was reporting for his web page “El Valedor TV,” and was taken by police to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities in Coahuila told local media that Espinoza and another man were arrested after engaging in a confrontation with police and that Espinoza choked to death.

More than 140 journalists have been killed in Mexico over the past 20 years.

President López Obrador demands an investigation

After news of the brutal murder broke, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador demanded an investigation and a sanction for those behind the crime. The Mexican President added his administration must find those who murdered the journalist.

“I’ve been to Tezonapa and I know the importance of El Mundo de Córdova, how heroic it is to be a journalist in that region, as well as in other regions. This is why there has to be an investigation and punish those responsible,” López Obrador said.

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A dangerous country for journalists

In August 2019, EL UNIVERSAL reported that more journalists were being murdered in Mexico than in Afghanistan.

Throughout 2019, criminals murdered 25 journalists from different countries. Unfortunately, a third of the victims were killed in Mexico.

It is a disgrace that Mexico, a country that is not officially going through armed conflict, tripled the number of journalists killed in Afghanistan. In contrast, the Asian country registered the death of three journalists amid civil war and while it is under the yoke of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban. Pakistan and Somalia are in third place after registering 2 dead journalists.

Mexico became “the deadliest country to be a journalist” and also plunged into the 140th place, among 180, in the World Press Freedom Index.

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