A Mexican cartel appears to be behind the murder of a respected journalist in the border state of Chihuahua. At the crime scene, cartel members left a note stating that the murder was due to her reporting.
On Thursday morning, unknown gunmen shot Miroslava Breach, a career journalist who worked as an editor for El Norte and most recently for La Jornada. According to La Jornada, Breach was leaving her home at approximately 7:15 a.m. on Thursday morning in the city of Chihuahua when she was fatally shot. At the crime scene, the gunmen left behind a poster board that read “por lenguona. Sigue tu Gobernador. El 80”. The message in the sign claims that the reporter was murdered for saying too much and that the state governor was next.
The message was signed by “El 80”, pointing to Carlos Arturo Quintana, a top leader within the Juarez Cartel (Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Cartel). As Breitbart Texas reported this week, Quintana’s gunmen are responsible for a fierce gun battle that killed at least 8 victims and spread terror and despair through the rural communities near Chihuahua. Quintana is wanted by the FBI as part of an ongoing federal case against him on multiple drug trafficking charges tied to the cartel.
Breach’s murder comes just days after Breitbart Texas reported that gunmen murdered Ricardo Monlui Cabrera, a journalist from Veracruz who was murdered as he walked with his wife.
As information about Breach’s murder began to be released, the Network of Journalists of Mexico’s Northeast (RPNM) expressed outrage for the apparent lack response by the Mexican government.
“We demand an expedited response to punish those responsible in a material and in an intellectual fashion for these attacks on the freedom of expression,” the statement noted.
According to the RPNM, Breach’s most recent work was tied to the raging cartel violence in Chihuahua. Cartel-connected politicians may have played a role in the murder, the journalist’s network revealed in their statement. The actions may have been tied to officeholders and their organized crime masters who are losing power under a new state government administration.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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