A Mexican freelance journalist was killed in Nuevo Laredo, a city on the country’s border with the U.S., on the afternoon of Jan. 13.
Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez, 77, was stabbed 21 times inside his vehicle, according to what the Attorney General’s Office of Tamaulipas told a radio program. According to Proceso, although initial reports indicated the journalist was shot, the attorney general clarified the death to Radio Fórmula on Jan. 15. At the time of his stabbing, Domínguez was with family members, according to newspaper El Mañana.
Firearms are typically used in murders of journalists in Mexico. However, Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial director for Nuevo Laredo's El Mañana, was stabbed 25 times in a 2004 murder.
Domínguez previously worked at El Diario in Nuevo Laredo. However, in the last year he began publishing a political column independently on different networks, according to El Mañana. The newspaper added that one of Domínguez’ last columns, published on several sites, was titled “Violence shakes Mexican soil in the pre-election season."
The National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH for its initials in Spanish) said it asked the government for protective measures for Domínguez’ family. It said it was keeping abreast of investigations and the main line of inquiry in the case should be the victim’s journalistic work.
Governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, posted on Twitter that he is committed to the journalistic community in the state that the murder of Domínguez will not go unpunished.
Enrique Rivas, municipal president of Nuevo Laredo, posted on Twitter, “My solidarity with the family of my friend, the journalist Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez. The Government of Nuevo Laredo always regrets and rejects all types of violence and aggression against citizens. All my support to the journalistic family. Not one more.”
The Mexican Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned the death and encouraged authorities not to discount that the murder occurred because of his work as a journalist.
The office also called on federal and state authorities to adopt preventative and protection measures for journalists ahead of this year’s elections.
The OOHCHR also pointed out that following a visit in late 2017 from Special Rapporteurs of the UN and IACHR, the representatives made a recommendation to the government of Tamaulipas to adopt a series of prevention methods to stop attacks on journalists and “restore confidence with the journalistic guild.
According to the CNDH, Tamaulipas is second in the country for murders of journalists since 2000. The State has seen 15 cases in that time.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
