An editorial published in the newspaper El Diario de Ciudad Juárez criticized Mexican authorities for leaving unpunished the killing of a journalist committed in 2008.
José Antonio Acosta Hernández, alias ‘El Diego’ and leader of the Juárez cartel, accepted blame for participating in 1,500 killings in Mexico, including the killing of journalist Armando Rodríguez Carreón “El Choco” in November 2008 in Juarez, a border city with Texas, according to the Guardian newspaper and the news site Al Margen. But instead of bringing him to justice for the killing, the suspect was extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy, and the killings of a U.S. consulate official in Ciudad Juárez, along with two more U.S. citizens -- but not the journalist, reported the news agency AFP and USA Today.
“The resolution of hundreds of high-impact killings attributed to ‘El Diego’ in this city will remain in the limbo of impunity to the detriment of thousands of victims," according to the editorial in El Diario, published Sunday, April 8.
The newspaper also said that thousands of other killings also could remain unpunished because the Mexican federal government explained that homicide is not cataloged as a crime under the Federal Organized Crime Law, meaning that killings are handled at the local or state level.
