Official: Mexican reporter Valdez killed because of his work

[Judi Lynn]

Updated 3:26 pm, Tuesday, April 24, 2018

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's national security commissioner says respected journalist Javier Valdez was killed last year because of his work.

National Security Commissioner Renato Sales also said Tuesday at a brief news conference that the arrest of a suspect in Valdez's killing was achieved without force. The government announced late Monday that a Sinaloa cartel member known by the nickname "Koala" was arrested in Tijuana.

Weeks before his murder, Valdez interviewed Damaso Lopez, who had been Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's right-hand man leading the Sinaloa cartel. At the time, Lopez was battling Guzman's sons for control of the cartel.

Valdez's colleagues and journalism advocates called on the government Tuesday to continue pursuing the mastermind of the May 15, 2017, slaying in the western city of Culiacan.

https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Official-Mexican-reporter-Valdez-killed-because-12861173.php

(Short article, no more at link.)

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Veteran Mexican journalist Javier Valdez is killed
By PATRICK J. MCDONNELL
MAY 15, 2017 | 4:55 PM
| MEXICO CITY



Javier Valdez speaks about his book "Huerfanos del Narco" at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November. (Hector Guerrero / AFP/Getty Images)

A well-known journalist in the violence-plagued state of Sinaloa in northwest Mexico was shot and killed Monday on a street in the state capital of Culiacan, marking the latest in a wave of killings of journalists in Mexico.

Javier Valdez, correspondent for the Mexico City-based daily La Jornada and a co-founder of the regional weekly Riodoce, was shot on a busy street in broad daylight, authorities said.

. . .

Since 2010, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based advocacy group, has documented the cases of more than 50 journalists killed or missing in Mexico. Few of the killings have been resolved in a nation where drug violence and organized crime are endemic, especially in the provinces outside of Mexico City.

"In nearly every case of a journalist murdered in direct retaliation for their work, justice remains elusive and impunity continues to be the norm," the organization said in a study in May. "This lack of accountability perpetuates a climate of impunity that leaves journalists open to attack."

More:
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-journalist-dead-20170515-story.html