Mexican Border Newspaper Calls Out Assault on Photographer by Federal Official

One of the largest newspapers in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas began the process of filing a federal complaint after an immigration official at one of the bridges in Reynosa threatened and assaulted one of their photographers. The newspaper is also notifying Mexico’s Human Rights Commission. The alleged assault comes at a time when Mexico continues to be labeled by international press freedom groups as one of the most dangerous places for journalists.

Breitbart Texas spoke with the leadership of El Mañana de Reynosa, who confirmed the attack and the taking of legal actions through Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office in connection with the case. The assault took place on Friday afternoon when photographer Guadalupe Castorena had arrived at the Reynosa-Hidalgo International Bridge to document the steps currently being taken at the port of entry in light of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

At some point during the assignment, an unknown Mexican Customs Agent ran the journalists off the federal property. During the incident, the agent pushed or struck Castorena while telling him to not point the camera at him. Other agents nearby and Mexican military personnel did not intervene to help the journalist.

Since the assault, El Mañana published the video taken by Castorena and a photograph of the agent’s face. It remains unclear in Mexican federal officials will investigate the matter. As Breitbart Texas has reported, in 2019, the international press freedom group Article 19 documented 249 aggressions against journalists during the first half of that year. According to that report, most of the aggressions came at the hand of Mexican officials and were largely unsolved.

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.