Outrage in Mexico After Cartel Gunmen Rob Team of Journalists

Mexican human right groups and multiple news outlets have expressed their outrage after at least 100 cartel gunmen detained and robbed a team of journalists working in the cartel-controlled state of Guerrero.

More than 100 gunmen detained seven journalists who were covering various roadblocks and a failed military operation aimed at slowing down the raging cartel violence in that state, Mexico’s Proceso Magazine reported. The gunmen detained the reporters for 15 minutes, stole their cameras, computers and one vehicle and then released the journalists after issuing a series of death threats.

The reporters have been identified as Hanz Musielik, from Vice, Pablo Pérez, from Hispano Post, Sergio Ocampo from La Jornada,  Angel Galeana, from Grupo Imagen, Alejandro Ortiz, from Bajo Palabra; Jair Cabrera from La Jornada and Jorge Martínez from  Quadratín.

After the reporters were released they were able to take the one remaining vehicle. Less than one mile away, the reporters came upon a military checkpoint where they sought help. Soon after the group filed formal complaints with the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office and with Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office.

Soon after the attack, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) issued a condemnation of the attack.

“Guerrero is one of the most dangerous entities for journalists to practice their trade. It is necessary for authorities to establish the necessary conditions to guarantee that the work of journalist can be carried out without any interference from public officials or other individuals,” a prepared statement by the CNDH revealed. 

According to Hispanic Post, the gunmen that carried out the robbery are linked to the La Familia drug cartel, a criminal organization with close ties to multiple politicians from the Mexican state of Guerrero.

The robbery of journalists in Mexico comes at a time when as Breitbart Texas has reported the country has already had four journalists killed by cartel gunmen. Due to the widespread corruption and deep influence that drug cartels have in Mexico, the targeting of journalists in that country goes largely unpunished. Breitbart Texas has reported on how multiple politicians including governors and even the Mexican president have been linked to drug cartels.