Photo-Journalist Kidnapped, Murdered by Fake Cops in Central Mexico

The ongoing wave of impunity that gives cartels and corrupt public officials the ability to murder journalists led to the murder of the 11th Mexican journalist this year. A team of gunmen dressed as cops kidnapped and murdered a photo-journalist in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi.

Gunmen kidnapped Edgar Daniel Esqueda Castro, a crime reporter, and photo-journalists for Metropolis San Lui and Vox Populi out of his home. The gunmen dressed as police officers as they carried out their crime. San Luis Potosi Attorney General’s Office issued a statement claiming that law enforcement personnel had no involvement in the kidnapping of the journalist.

Soon after the kidnapping, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement condemning yet another attack on freedom.

“Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists,” the statement revealed. “If the Mexican government is as committed to press freedom as they claim to be, they must prevent future kidnappings and killings.

Just one day after the kidnapping, Vox Populi SLP published the news that the body of their colleague had been found in an empty lot near the city’s airport. The body showed signs of torture. The journalist left behind a one-year-old daughter.

In their message, Vox Populi stated: “You don’t kill the truth by killing journalists.”

Soon after the murder, journalists from San Luis gathered outside of a government building to demand justice for their murdered colleague.

Esqueda’s murder is believed to be the 11th murdered journalist in 2017. His murder comes less than a month after cartel gunmen in the state of Guanajuato murdered Juan Carlos Hernandez Rios, a journalist with La Bandera, an online news outlet. Hernandez had been reporting on cartel activity in the state, Breitbart Texas reported. 

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.

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