Aurelio Cabrera Campos, director of weekly El Gráfico in the state of Puebla, was shot on the night of Sept. 14 while driving on the highway in Huauchinango.
Authorities arrived at the scene after receiving an anonymous phone call, Proceso reported. Cabrera died hours later after being transferred to a hospital.
El Gráfico was recently created and was dedicated to covering the police beat in northern Puebla, according to Proceso.
El Universal reported that the area has seen a surge in “violence linked to drug trafficking and gangs that steal fuel.”
According to Angulo 7, Pablo Estrada Hernández, director of newspaper El Caminante and colleague of Cabrera, said that his friend said he received threats. He hypothesized that the motive could be related to a story someone didn’t like or information about a criminal gang.
Cabrera previously covered the police related for La Voz de la Sierra and later worked with Estrada at El Caminante, according to Estrada. The journalist said Cabrera started his new project six months ago and “was very seasoned, well-known and quite professional,” according to Angulo 7.
The Attorney General of the State, which said it has started an investigation into the murder, said that it is collaborating with the Special Prosecutor for the Attention of Crimes Against Freedom of Expression of the Attorney General of the Republic, according to El Universal.
The National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) condemned the murder and asked for precautionary measures for the journalist’s family. The entity also started a record on the case.
Another communications worker, Agustín Pavia Pavia, was killed in Oaxaca on Sept. 12. News reports mainly identified Pavía as a lawyer, a candidate for office in Huajuapan de León and a political leader.
News site Despartar de Oaxaca said Pavia also worked as a host at a community radio station. In a Tweet, Article 19 identified Pavía as a member of community radio station Tu Un Ñuu Savi. As noted by Article 19, another host of that radio station, Salvador Olmos García, died on June 26 after being run over by a police car.
Via Twitter, Artículo 19 de Mexico urged attorney generals from both Puebla and Oaxaca to investigate the murders of Cabrera and Pavia, respectively, with their work as communicators as a line of inquiry.
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.
