Mexican Journalist’s Beheading Staged As Motorcycle Accident

Gunmen in the Mexican state of Veracruz beheaded a local journalist and left his remains near railroad tracks to stage the murder as an accident.

The case took place this week in Tezonapa where authorities discovered the remains of veteran journalist Julio Valdivia Rodriguez. According to information released by the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office, the journalist was murdered and beheaded in another location.

According to journalists, local police responded to the scene of an apparent traffic accident only to discover the gruesome crime. State investigators document the evidence and took responsibility for the body. Valdivia Rodriguez worked for more than 20 years, most recently as a crime reporter for El Mundo.

In the aftermath, a spokesman for Mexico’s president, Jesus Ramirez Cuevas, took to social media claiming the crime would not go unpunished.

Condenamos el asesinato de Julio Valdivia, periodista de El Mundo de Córdoba. Este crimen, ni ninguno otro que atente contra la labor periodística puede quedar impune. El @GobiernoMX trabaja para proteger la labor de periodistas y castigar los ataques a la libertad de expresión.

— Jesús Ramírez Cuevas (@JesusRCuevas) September 10, 2020

Veracruz Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia also condemned the murder and claimed his investigators are able to narrow the probe to a single theory and motive.

En la Coordinación Estatal para la Construcción de la Paz, la FGE reportó que los avances respecto al homicidio del corresponsal de un medio en Tezonapa fortalecen una sola línea de investigación; el compromiso será de dar con todos los responsables.

(1/4) pic.twitter.com/usRAgPVWlD

— Cuitláhuac García (@CuitlahuacGJ) September 10, 2020

Valdivia marks the seventh murder of a journalist or media worker in Mexico in 2020.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.     

Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report