Journalist who lined drug cartels murdered in Mexico; message left subsequent to physique, stories say

[ad_1] A Mexican journalist who lined drug trafficking has been murdered, officers informed AFP on Monday, the most recent casualty in a rustic notoriously dangerous for reporters .

The reporter, Miguel Angel Beltran, had beforehand labored in print media and was now masking crime-related points on social media, in response to native stories.

Beltran's physique was discovered on Saturday alongside a stretch of freeway that connects the northwest state of Durango with Mazatlan, a resort hub within the neighboring state of Sinaloa , native press reported. Local media reported the journalist's physique was discovered wrapped in a blanket, with a message that learn: "For spreading false accusations towards the individuals of Durango."

His loss of life was confirmed to AFP by the Durango state prosecutor's workplace.

Beltran had reported from TikTok accounts, beneath the deal with Capo, and on Fb, on the web page La Gazzetta Durango, AFP confirmed.

In one in every of his final posts, on Oct. 22, Beltran reported on the arrest of a frontrunner of a criminal offense gang referred to as Cabrera Sarabia, which operates in Durango and is a rival of the highly effective Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartels.

Mexico is taken into account some of the dangerous countries for journalists , with greater than 150 media employees slain since 1994, in response to Reporters With out Borders (RSF).

Beltran and different murdered journalists labored in areas the place drug cartels have been energetic, and so they revealed their work in native media or on social media, usually in precarious employment situations.

Media employees are commonly focused in Mexico, typically in direct reprisal for his or her work masking subjects like corruption and the nation's notoriously violent drug traffickers.

A file variety of journalists have been killed worldwide in 2024, the Committee to Shield Journalists said in a report launched earlier this yr, together with 5 in Mexico.

Mexico had its deadliest yr for journalists in 2022 , with 13 killings, in response to CPJ and Articulo 19, a corporation selling press freedom in Mexico. Since 2000, Articulo 19 has documented 174 murders and 31 disappearances of journalists in Mexico.

All however a handful of media employees' killings and abductions stay unsolved.

"Impunity is the norm in crimes towards the press," the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a 2024 report on Mexico.

A report by CPJ and Amnesty International confirmed in 2024 that Mexico fails in its efforts to offer state-sanctioned safety to members of the press.