On May 9, 2022, Yesenia Mollinedo Falconi, director of a weekly publication El Veraz, and Sheila Johana García Olivera, reporter of the same publication, were found slain in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Mollinedo and García were shot dead by unidentified assailants while getting into a car outside a convenience store in the town of Cosoleacaque. According to media reports, Mollinedo’s brother said the journalist had received threatening phone calls ordering her to remove crime-related stories from her news portal and that, more recently, she had covered alleged abuses of power related to the Cosoleacaque mayor’s office. In the months leading up to the murder, Mollinedo had been threatened several times and followed by unidentified men. Over the years she had received multiple death threats due to her reporting. Initial police reports stated that the murders were possibly linked to the work of Mollinedo and García. On June 6, the office of the Veracruz state prosecutor (FGE) announced in a Facebook statement that a suspect, identified only as Armando N., alias “El Trascabo,” had been arrested in connection with the killings. The arrest of a second suspect, identified only as Víctor Manuel N., alias “El Calaco,” was announced on June 8, in another statement published by the FGE on Facebook. Neither statement provided further details about the suspects’ identities or motives.
More Articles
Recent Posts
- Burkina Faso bans media over critical coverage of military May 3, 2024
- World Press Freedom Day’s interview with Věra Jourová May 3, 2024
- WPFD: Press freedom matters because humanity matters May 3, 2024
- World Press Freedom Day 2024: Media freedom groups sound the alarm over press freedom in Europe May 3, 2024
- Internationaler Tag der Pressefreiheit 2024: Die Bedeutung des Journalismus für unsere Welt May 3, 2024
- 11 trailblazing organizations shortlisted for 2024 Free Media Pioneer award May 2, 2024
- New Media Incubator: How a Belarusian media outlet pursued sustainability amidst severe pressure April 30, 2024
- Terrorism investigation into Catalan journalist raises concerns ahead of elections April 30, 2024