Mexico (AP) — Mourners gathered Thursday at the wake of a newspaper reporter whose decapitated body was found a day earlier in an area of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz that has suffered months of organized crime violence
The newspaper El Mundo in the city of Cordoba reported Wednesday that the body of reporter Julio Valdivia was found near his motorcycle on railroad tracks in the town of Motzorongo
but were hesitant to talk citing pervasive fear in the area
Valdivia covered general news in that part of Veracruz
those beat reporters often draw the attention of criminal groups that are upset by coverage or try to control what stories are published
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday that he knows journalists do “heroic” work in that part of Veracruz and in other places
“That is why all cases must be investigated and those responsible punished,” he said
was at least the sixth journalist killed this year in Mexico
Friend Angela Carrasco said the newspaper hadn’t paid him his complete salary in eight months
He was making 1,000 pesos or about $47 a week
Carrasco said her friend was serious about his work and always trying to get ahead for his daughters
“That’s what he lived for,” she said
The Veracruz state prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday that its investigation would include Valdivia’s work as a journalist as one of the principal lines of inquiry
Mexican authorities have been criticized in previous cases for quickly discounting any connection between murdered journalists and their work
The Veracruz State Commission for Attention and Protection of Journalists said in a statement that Valdivia had not reported receiving threats to them and therefore did not have special protection measures
It condemned Valdivia’s murder and called on authorities to deeply investigate any connection to his work
commission director Jorge Morales visited Valdivia’s family
there are regions that are silenced or where there is a de facto vacuum of the rule of law
which forces journalists to turn to self-censorship as a means of protection,” Morales said
He said the groups that operate in places like this are involved in fuel theft
kidnappings and stealing merchandise off trucks
“We’re talking about areas in a state of decomposition.”
sits at the border between Veracruz and Oaxaca
The area where the states of Veracruz and Oaxaca meet is violent
including the Jalisco New Generation cartel
Local reporters say the area is dominated by organized crime
Valdivia is at least the third reporter killed in the area since 2015
Alejandro Murat signed a cooperative agreement pledging to send more security resources to the area to lower the level of violence
They said state security forces with support from the National Guard
a 16-year-old Mexican-American boy was killed just 8 miles (13 kilometers) down the road in Acatlan de Perez Figueroa
Authorities said a local police officer shot the boy in the head with a shotgun as he rode by a police check point with friends on motorcycles
The teen’s mother said they had just gone to the store to buy sodas
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Mexican journalist Julio Valdivia was found beheaded on Wednesday
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