The International Press Institute deplores the brutal murder of María Elizabeth Macías Castro, 39. The journalist was abducted on Friday, 23 September, and her body was found the next day in Nuevo Laredo city, in the border state of Tamaulipas. According to news reports, she was decapitated and left near a monument to Christopher Columbus in the town square, among some keyboards, cables and a CD player with a note stating that she was there because of her reports.
Macías Castro was the editor of Primera Hora newspaper, but used the pen name “La Nena de Laredo” (The Laredo Girl) for her participation in social networks. The note left beside her body, signed with the Z that identifies the Los Zetas drug cartel, stated: “Nuevo Laredo en Vivo and social networking sites, I’m the Laredo Girl, and I’m here because of my reports and yours. For those who don’t want to believe, this happened to me because of my actions.”
Nuevo Laredo en Vivo (http://www.nuevolaredoenvivo.es.tl/) is a website used by citizens who report on drug cartels and activities linked to organized crime. After this violent incident, the site displayed a banner which honors The Laredo Girl and has been changing its posting process in order to protect its members. According to Vanguardia, a local newspaper, Macías Castro was also the moderator and administrator of some forums in Nuevo Laredo en Vivo.
The Tamaulipas state attorney general’s office identified the victim on Saturday evening and committed to investigate the crime. Although the office said that she was the editor for Primera Hora, this and other newspapers from Tamaulipas did not publish anything about the incident. El Universal daily, located in the country’s capital, reported on self censorship about the case not only among the regional media, but also on the part of Tamaulipas’s NGOs, all claiming security reasons. ANSA news agency added that several Mexican journalists began to deactivate their accounts on social networks to avoid future attacks.
IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “Our condolences go out to María Elizabeth Macías Castro’s family, friends and colleagues. We urge the Mexican government to investigate this case and bring all those responsible to justice.”
According to IPI’s Death Watch, Macías Castro is the fourth woman journalist to be murdered in Mexico since the beginning of 2011. The previous three died in the last two months. Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world this year for journalists, with 12 reporters killed so far, followed by Iraq, with nine. In Latin America, the most dangerous region in the world, 35 journalists have been killed this year.
Vanguardia newspaper reported that also in Tamaulipas journalists Arturo Moreno, Juan Carlos Alarcón and Jorge Flores were assaulted and illegally detained by police officers last Friday, during an incident involving the discovery of 35 bodies in the municipality of Boca del Río.
Additionally, Article 19 reported that journalist Gabriel Manuel Fonseca Hernández, 19, has been missing since 18 September. The reporter for El Mañanero newspaper was last seen on Saturday in the town of Acayucan, Veracruz. Juan Fonseca Aguirre, the reporter’s father, inquired about his son’s whereabouts with his friends and the local authorities and hospitals. On Wednesday 21 September, he filed a missing person report. Fonseca is the second journalist to go missing this year. Journalist Noel López Olguín, also kidnapped in Veracruz, was found dead three months after he disappeared on 8 March 2011.
