‘They’ll Find You — and Kill You’: The Underreported Plight of Fearless Mexican Journalists

In the early evening of May 14, 2025, in Acapulco, Guerrero, journalist José Carlos González Herrera — known to his followers as “El Fénix”— was ambushed and shot dead by unidentified assailants as he left a recording studio. Mr. González, 39, was the founder and editor of El Guerrero, Opinión Ciudadana, a Facebook-based news outlet with over 143,000 followers, where he reported on local politics, crime, and social issues. He was previously injured in a targeted attack in 2023.“José Carlos González’s brutal killing is the latest in a string of deadly attacks on the press in Mexico — yet another reminder that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s promise that press freedom would be respected in the country continues to be an empty one,” the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Mexico representative, Jan-Albert Hootsen, said in a statement. “If Mexican authorities finally want to show their commitment to press freedom, they must bring González’s attackers to justice, lest the impunity that fuels these killings continues unabated.”At least four journalists have been killed in Mexico this year, underscoring the country’s ongoing status as one of the most dangerous places in the world for media professionals. While the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine dominate international headlines, the crisis long facing journalists in Mexico garners little attention. “Many journalists are scared to cover what is going on, especially because the cartels are so well-organized and sophisticated when it comes to surveillance and intelligence,” Latin America-based filmmaker, Neil Brandvold, tells the New York Sun. “People don’t realize how advanced they are — they’re using spyware, tracking license plates, hacking phones. It’s serious. But sadly, when a journalist is killed, it barely makes a blip. People have become desensitized to it.”Grim Reality Mexico has long been recognized as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Reporters Without Borders ranked Mexico among the top three most dangerous countries for journalists, noting that it accounts for 30 percent of all journalist disappearances globally over the past decade. Making matters worse, criminal groups and corrupt officials frequently operate with impunity.“The threat for journalists stems from their sense of impunity, owing to the intimidation of local law enforcement and other members of the government and community from acting against them,” Research Professor of Latin American studies at the United States Army War College, Evan Ellis, tells the Sun. “It also stems from the style of their organization to intimidate for the purposes of extortion or acting against rival groups. This gives them the disposition to use such tactics to silence those whose information or attention threatens them, and also to send a message to others not to do the same.”The Committee to Protect Journalists last year reported that Mexico recorded the highest number of unpunished journalist murders — 21 cases. This places the country a dismal eighth on the Committee to Protect Journalist’s Global Impunity Index, highlighting its struggle to protect its press. Origins of ViolenceIn Mexico, journalists face grave dangers from organized crime groups, particularly drug cartels, which employ violence and intimidation to suppress reporting on their activities. These criminal organizations often threaten, abduct, or even kill journalists who investigate their operations or expose their connections with corrupt officials. The pervasive influence of cartels has led to widespread self-censorship among media professionals. Fear for personal safety and that of their families compels many to avoid covering sensitive topics. This climate of fear undermines press freedom and hampers the public’s access to information about crime and corruption. “Organized crime is present in almost the entire country. These groups try to control everything, including the information media,” Mexican television producer Alejandro Suverza tells the Sun. “In many [Mexican] states, journalists are threatened, injured, or killed simply for publishing information about criminal groups, often simply for mentioning them.”He explained that criminal groups “often don’t even have to threaten because journalists prefer not to get involved in these issues.” “In some areas of the country, newspaper editors establish security measures such as not immediately going to areas where there are clashes, not signing or using their names on stories,” Mr. Suverza explained. While drug cartels are often blamed for violence against journalists, the state’s role cannot be overlooked. Research indicates that 42 percent of attacks on journalists are committed by government officials, highlighting the pervasive corruption and collusion between the state and criminal entities. “Cartel leaders continue to operate from inside prisons because they can bribe guards and officials. For many years, the politicians in power, both past and present, have not implemented effective strategies to control the cartels,” Mexico City-based psychologist and criminal profiler Mónica Ramírez Cano tells the Sun. “As a result, we have widespread impunity and corruption. What Trump has said about this situation is true — politicians, presidents, and many others in the government are linked to these organizations.”This collusion creates an environment where journalists are targeted not only by criminal groups but also by the very authorities meant to protect them.“On the government’s side, it historically has advertising contracts with all media outlets, so often, as a journalist, you can’t publish anything against those who have contracts with your outlet,” Mr. Suverza said. “If you write a story against them, they simply don’t publish it.”Mr. Brandvold also explained that, while working on a story about organ trafficking by the cartels, the team had to work directly with the cartel leadership and everything had to be “green lit” and approved by them ahead of time. “A lot of local journalists would say it’s just not worth the risk. If the reporting comes off too critical, they’ll find you — and kill you. Same goes for reporting on the government,” he noted. “The tracking capabilities between the cartels and state actors are basically on par. They can trace your license plate, track your movements, hack into your phone with high-grade tech.”Mr. Brandvold also observed that, given he wasn’t a local, he is given much more of a freehand to delve into sensitive subjects. “Mexican journalists would just get killed,” he said. “The work is far riskier for them than those coming in and out.”Mexico’s Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, created in 2012, was intended as a lifeline for at-risk media workers. The Mechanism assesses threats and implements protective measures, such as emergency relocation, bodyguards, panic buttons, or surveillance, to safeguard journalists and human rights defenders at risk.In practice, however, the program has fallen alarmingly short. A joint report by Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists revealed that eight journalists had been killed while under the Mechanism’s supposed protection over the past seven years. The number of denied protection requests surged dramatically — from just one in 2020 to 14 in 2021, 49 in 2022, and another 49 in the first 11 months of 2023.The report also highlighted a widespread lack of trust in the Mechanism, noting that journalists often encountered slow, bureaucratic responses and that women, in particular, felt their gender-specific risks were ignored. The Committee also emphasized that the Mechanism frequently fails to assess risk properly and has implemented protective measures that are either ineffective or poorly adapted to the realities of press freedom in Mexico. Mr. González, for one, was reportedly not part of the protection program. The Human Rights Unit of the Mexican Ministry of the Interior oversees the program and did not respond to a request for comment. What Happens NowSince the beginning of the second Trump administration, United States policy has targeted cartel violence in Mexico — and the associated flow of fentanyl across the United States’s southern border — through a series of intensified crackdown measures.Earlier this year, Trump designated several Mexican drug cartels — including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The designation raises the possibility of United States military intervention, including drone strikes, to combat cartel activities.The CIA is also set to take a more assertive role against Mexican drug cartels, increasing intelligence sharing, training local counternarcotics units, and potentially conducting covert operations. CIA Director John Ratcliffe is focused on reallocating resources toward Mr. Trump’s mission, applying counterterrorism tactics against designated groups in far-flung battlefields, marking a significant and risky expansion of the agency’s focus.On a diplomatic front, Mr. Trump has threatened to implement hefty 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports — a card that the White House could invoke at any time. One critical question remains: will these high-level crackdowns make life safer for reporters working on the ground? According to Mr. Ellis, the actions by the Trump Administration against cartels as terrorist organizations generally will not impact the safety of journalists in Mexico, but the clampdown “may also make the cartels more reluctant to take high-profile actions, such as killing Western journalists, that could increase U.S. attention to their group.”Others see it differently.“The approach of the last 20 years isn’t working. Something has to change, and we want this harsh action,” a Mexico City-based writer who did not want to speak on the record told the Sun. “Otherwise there will be no journalists left. You have to be crazy to go into this profession.”

‘They’ll Find You — and Kill You’: The Underreported Plight of Fearless Mexican Journalists

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