Journalist Yolanda Orda, who had been missing for 48 hours, was found dead in Veracruz, Mexico, July 26, the Associated Press reports. Ordaz, who covered police issues for Notiver – one of the most important dailies in the region – is the second journalist from the paper to be killed in the last five weeks and the seventh Mexican journalist killed in 2011.
According to the Inter Press Service (IPS), Ordaz was investigating the June 20 killing of Notiver journalist Miguel Ángel López. She received anonymous threats telling her she “would be next” if she continued to investigate her boss’ death.
EFE reports that Ordaz’s body was found beheaded next to a message whose contents have not been disclosed.
In May, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) reported that 68 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000, while another 13 remain missing.
Beyond the deaths of Ordaz and López, in March TV host José Luis Cerda and photographer Luis Emmanuel Ruiz Carrillo were killed, while in June reporter Noel López Olguín’s body was found in a hidden grave. On June 14, Pablo Ruelas was shot to death and on July 3, Ángel Castillo Corona was killed with his son during a robbery.
These crimes and others are reflected in the Knight Center's updated Map of threats against journalism in Mexico, which has been tracking incidents of violence against the press since 2010.
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.
