The identification of two of three suspects in the assassination of Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea have been confirmed, said César Augusto Peniche, district attorney general of the state of Chihuahua, according to the Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
The prosecutor said before the special commission of the Chamber of Deputies in charge of monitoring aggressions against journalists, that one of the identified was the driver of the vehicle that transported the assassin to the home of Breach. The second identified person, said the attorney general, is the one who wrote the message on a card left at the scene of the crime, La Jornada reports.
Breach Velducea was assassinated in the morning of march 23, after receiving at least four gunshot wounds in the head and body, while she was inside her vehicle outside her home.
The journalist, with more than 20 years of professional experience, worked with diverse media outlets in the country. Mainly, she was a correspondent for La Jornada in Chihuahua and the outlet Norte de Ciudad Juárez.
Security camera footage found nearby the home of the journalist helped identify the brand, model, and year of the vehicle used by the aggressors, said Peniche in El Diario de Ciudad Juárez.
According to El Diario de Ciudad Juárez, a search warrant of the home was issued to the vehicle driver implicated in the investigation where evidence related to the message left by the assassins was found. There was also “electronic attachments with information that proved to be important for the ongoing investigation”, said Peniche.
“What’s left is determining who ordered the execution and who pulled the trigger. We will capture those responsible,” said the attorney general according to La Jornada.
The written message left by the aggressors after the assassination of the journalist said: “For having a long tongue. Next are the kin of the governor and the governor. The 80”; reported La Jornada.
“The 80” is an organized gang related to the Juarez cartel and Carlos Arturo Quintana is their leader, according to Chihuahuan authorities. According to La Jornada, this group dominates the western zone of the state.
National Action Party congresswoman Brenda Velázquez Valdez, who presided over the commission where Peniche declared his findings for the criminal investigation of Breach's murder, has called the federal government to guarantee the security and integrity of journalists, reported El Diario de Ciudad Juárez.
Velázquez also asked the government that during the next budget proposal of the federation to set aside distinct funds to facilitate a working mechanism to protect journalists.
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.
