Mexican drug trade reporter Javier Valdez killed

 

Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, has been shot dead.

Unidentified attackers opened fire on him on Monday in Culiacan city in the north-western state of Sinaloa, where he lived and worked.
Valdez, 50, received the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2011 for his work.
He is one of several journalists who have been killed in Mexico this year.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images

Image caption Valdez was shot in broad daylight on a street in Culiacan

Valdez was shot dead on the street near the premises of the Mexican news weekly he had founded, RioDoce.
During his career spanning nearly three decades, Valdez wrote extensively on drug-trafficking and organised crime in Mexico, including the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.
The cartel is believed to be responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico.
Its founder Joaquin Guzman, also known as "El Chapo" (Shorty), was captured in 2014 and is currently in jail awaiting trial in the US.
Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto condemned the killing, calling it an "outrageous crime", and added that his government remained committed to press freedom.

Image copyright Twitter / @EPN

Image caption Mr Nieto said in a tweet that Mr Valdez's killing was an "outrageous crime"

Sinaloa state attorney general Juan Jose Rios said they were investigating the death, and would protect Valdez's family and colleagues.
"Above all else we are interested in Javier's family," he told reporters.
The CPJ's Mexico representative Jan-Albert Hootsen said Valdez's killing was "an attack on journalism, all journalists throughout Mexico".

In March, after journalist Miroslava Breach was shot dead, Valdez was quoted as saying "No to silence" and "Let them kill us all".
Speaking at a launch of his book last year, he said: "Being a journalist is like being on a blacklist."
"Even though you may have bullet-proofing and bodyguards, [the gangs] will decide what day they are going to kill you."
Like Valdez, Breach had reported on organised crime, drug-trafficking and corruption.
Other Mexican journalists killed this year include freelancers Maximino Rodriguez and Cecilio Pineda Birto, according to the CPJ.
The CPJ says at least 40 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992.

source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39930772

Author: Charles Fiossi

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