The Cases of Lethal Violence in Veracruz 2010-2016

By María Eloísa Quintero

This title summarizes the relevant facts, main threats, and scope of ministerial investigations into 20 individual cases of disappearance and lethal violence against journalists in Veracruz during the period from 2010 to 2016.
Concrete hypotheses regarding the motives behind these murders are listed based on a thorough review of documentary sources and interviews.
Detailed information is provided for each case, including the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and death, prior threats, and investigations.
Given the context of journalism in Veracruz during those years, three general hypotheses are suggested that are possible and applicable to all cases of lethal violence:

Case 1: Noel López Olguín

Empirical reporter, 45 years old. Contributor to at least four newspapers: La Verdad, Noticias de Acayucan, La Verdad de Jáltipan and El Horizonte de Nanchital.

Facts

On the morning of March 8, 2011 he received a phone call while he was having breakfast, he told his wife that he would run a couple of errands and would be back in the afternoon; he never returned. The next day his car was found on the Soteapan highway.

According to what the authorities told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), López Olguín was kidnapped by armed men in two vans. Jesús Lemus’ book states that: “In the morning he had coffee with some friends. In that meeting he would have commented for the last time about the threats he was being subjected to by members of organized crime; he said that they were members of Los Zetas but that they were at the service of the mining company Gold Group Mining Inc. and that in some way they were the ones looking after the interests of that economic group”.

His remains were found 3 months later in a clandestine grave in the Malacate ejido, according to information provided by Alejandro Castro Chirino, alias El Dragón, who upon being arrested confessed to the murder of the journalist, gave indications of the place where the body had been buried and also revealed that he had participated in other murders and kidnappings.

Cases 2 & 3: Miguel Ángel López Velasco y Misael López Solana

Miguel Ángel López Velasco (who signed columns and was known as Milo Vela), 55 years old, reporter, columnist, editor. More than 30 years practicing journalism, many of them in Notiver; in that newspaper he coordinated the Sucesos section, of which most of its members were murdered: Gabriel Huge, Yolanda Ordaz, Misael López and Guillermo Luna. During a previous period, Milo Vela collaborated in other media: he was in Telever (Televisa Veracruz) and in El Diario de Xalapa as chief police correspondent, while he contributed to TV Azteca with reports.

Misael López Solana, 22, younger son of Milo, police photographer for Notiver. He also worked in the social communications office of the Boca de Río city hall.

Facts

On June 20, 2011, armed men forced the lock and entered the home of the Velasco Solana family in the Fernando López Arias neighborhood of Veracruz, located 5 blocks from the intermunicipal police headquarters. Miguel Angel Velasco, his wife Agustina Solana and their youngest son Misael were murdered. According to the forensic expert’s report, the multiple homicide occurred between 05:54 and 06:06 and was executed by at least 6 people. In the place there were found gunshells of different calibers that according to the forensic analysis fired 33 times against the victims.

Case 4: Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz

Journalist, 48 years old. He worked at the Notiver newspaper along with Milo Vela. She headed the Sucesos section -police news- and he was its editor.

Facts

July 24, 2011 was the last day that her companions and family saw her alive. In the early morning of the 26th of that month her body was found decapitated and with signs of torture. This happened a month after the murder of her immediate boss at Notiver, Miguel Ángel López Velasco.

His head was left in front of the facilities of the Imagen del Golfo newspaper and the MVS radio station in Boca del Río, next to him was a sign with the phrase “friends also betray: Sincerely Carranza”. It was the first time in those years that such a level of violence and exposure of the remains of a journalist was registered, with such a communicative staging.

Threats

The Zetas and the Gulf Cartel were fighting for control of trafficking territory and activities. Violence had affected the journalistic profession, especially those who covered the “nota roja” (police). Yolanda had learned to live with danger; she had received several letters with death threats.

Case 5: Manuel Gabriel Fonseca

Empirical journalist, 19 years old. He collaborated in Diario de Acayucan and El Mañanero.

Facts

He was last seen on Saturday, September 17, 2011 when he left for work to go to the offices of El Mañanero, where he met his boss and told him he was going out to eat some tamales. That night he did not come to sleep at his family’s home. His father went out to look for him. He did not find him nor did he have any communication with him again; they dialed his phone but it went straight to voicemail.

Case 6: Regina Martínez Pérez

Journalist, 48 years old. Studied journalism at the Universidad Veracruzana. Collaborated in several media: TV Más, El Sol de Chiapas, Número Uno, La Jornada and Proceso.

Facts

On Saturday, April 28, 2012, she was found dead in the bathroom of her home; she had bruises on her face and body, as well as signs of strangulation and asphyxiation with a bath jargon. Her computer, cell phones -according to one source- and two cassettes -according to another- were stolen from the place.

It was one of the murders with the greatest repercussions, not only in Veracruz but also nationally and internationally, not only because he was a correspondent of Proceso magazine but also because of his career. Due to the pressure generated by this case, the idea of creating the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) began to take shape, which finally came into being in December of that year.

Threats

He denounced and documented all kinds of abuses by politicians as well as private companies and corruption issues. He covered the most controversial and important cases that occurred in Veracruz and had national transcendence or sometimes reached it thanks to his notes and reports.

He often received intimidating phone calls; he also received threats and threats of lawsuits. For this reason she lived a reserved life; her colleagues and friends say that few people entered or shared with Regina in her home. Neighbors, workers and other witnesses testified before the ministerial authorities that the journalist was a very discreet and isolated person with whom they had little contact.

Before her murder she had a security incident. In December 2011, when she returned from visiting her family, Regina realized that someone had entered her home. The house was in order, except for the bathroom. There the soap boxes were open and the air was still damp, as if someone had just used the shower, as a message of intrusion. She was killed in that bathroom, 4 months later.

Cases 7, 8 & 9: Guillermo Luna Varela, Gabriel Huge Córdova y Esteban Rodríguez Rodríguez

Guillermo Luna Varela, empirical photojournalist, 21 years old. He collaborated with Notiver, Veracruz News and Diario Cardel.

Gabriel Huge Córdova, empirical photojournalist, 37 years old. He collaborated in El Sur and Notiver. He also had his own ventures at the same time: an Internet café, a video store and a laundry, among others.

Esteban Rodríguez, empirical photojournalist, 30 years old. He collaborated in Diario AZ, Imagen, Tv Azteca and Notiver.

Facts

They were last seen on May 2. In the morning, along with other colleagues, they were covering a traffic accident in the port of Veracruz. According to the testimony of Isabel Luna, several reporters, among them her brother Guillermo Luna, were covering a car crash that occurred that day on the streets of González Pagés and Juan Enríquez. Several colleagues went to the scene of the accident in the same car. Journalist Juan Carlos Parra noticed that Guillermo did not return with them in the car and immediately asked for him. Franco Cardel, reporter for the AZ newspaper replied that Guillermo “had gone on an errand”.

However, later Huge and Luna returned to their home, from where they left a little later each one on their own and did not return.

Gabriel Huge knew he was in danger. According to a source, hours before his death he told a friend that he was going to a delicate appointment.

He told him “if I don’t come back in 2 hours, I’m entrusting my daughter to you”. It is presumed that they were summoned to a dangerous appointment, possibly the meeting took place in the city of Cardel, half an hour from the port.

On the morning of the following day, May 3, 2015, their remains, along with those of Irasema Becerra, were found in plastic bags that were thrown into a sewage canal known as La Zamorana, in the Las Vegas 2 subdivision of Boca del Río. They were tortured and dismembered.

Empirical journalist, 46 years old. He was editor of the Police section of the newspaper Milenio in Xalapa and founder and director of the website Reporterospoliciacos.mx. Previously he was a contributor to AZ Diario, El Martinense, El Diario de Xalapa and El Sol de Córdoba.

Facts

He disappeared on Monday, June 13, 2012. He was abducted at 11:30 p.m. as he was leaving the headquarters of Reporteros Policiacos. He was apprehended by 3 armed men without uniforms aboard a gray van. The Public Security Secretariat received a report of the kidnapping at 23:40.

His body was found the following day, mutilated and in black bags placed on Ursulo Galvan Street, near the newspapers Oye Veracruz and El Diario de Xalapa, a few meters from the Government Palace. On one side they left an orange poster board that read: “This happens to those who betray and want to be clever. Sincerely, Los Zetas»(1). As in other cases, there is a communicational staging, marked by the way and the place where the corpse was left.

The expert reports point out many signs of injuries and torture, and detail that the cause of death was “slow death of mechanical origin, directly related to compound wounds, of short blunt force type, causing the segmentation (amputation and decapitation of the body)”.

Empirical journalist, 35 years old. Collaborated in Diario de Poza Rica and sold notes to other media such as Tribuna Papanteca and www.gobernantes.com

Facts

In previous days he had told the directors of Diario de Poza Rica that he needed to leave the city due to “personal problems”. On July 19 he went to the offices of the newspaper and entrusted his photographic equipment to the receptionist. That night he did not return home and has not been heard from since. On July 23 his wife reported him missing.

Threats

During interviews conducted by the press in the first days, his family said they did not know if he had received any threats, however, a live source said that he may have received threats but he was very private about his personal affairs.

Empirical journalist, 48 years old. He worked at Diario Cardel and collaborated with Reporterospoliciacos.com. He was also a public employee of the municipality of La Antigua.

Facts

On Sunday, January 20, 2013, he received a call on his cell phone while he was working in the editorial office of Diario Cardel. He left without turning off the computer, telling a colleague that he would be back soon, not to turn off the computer, but he did not return.

His colleagues believed that his absence was due to sentimental conflicts and so it was not until the following day that they began to look for him. They said that when he was at the newsroom he received several calls and that he seemed worried. The newspaper reported his disappearance two days later and his wife filed a complaint with the authorities the following week.

Threats

In addition to working as a journalist he was a public employee in the City Hall of La Antigua, was a popular person in his community and in 2012 had accepted to be a candidate for local deputy for the Nueva Alianza party for Huatusco’s 13th district but a day before the elections he resigned his candidacy alleging that the party had not fulfilled its promises to finance the campaign and give an advertising agreement to Diario Cardel.

He had previously been kidnapped in November 2011, apparently following a publication about the murder of a cab driver. An armed group took him from the newspaper’s door. He managed to escape, it is unclear although some accounts indicate that he was rescued by the military and taken into custody in Xalapa, the state capital, after which he migrated to Acayucan and San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas state. He had returned to Cardel a few weeks before his second disappearance. Colleagues report that the state police delegate, Marcos Conde, currently on trial for forced disappearance of persons, had summoned him to exchange information when the cab driver was executed.

Empirical journalist, 42 years old. He was correspondent in Villa Allende of the Coatzacoalcos newspaper NotiSur, and also collaborated with the newspapers El Liberal del Sur and La Red. He also worked as a photographer of social events.

Facts

In the early morning of February 5, 2014, five armed men showed up at the door of his house, asked for him and when he came out they took him by force aboard a pickup truck. His family was present.

The government of Veracruz generated a search operation that included soldiers, marines and federal and state police. Gregorio was missing for 6 days.

On February 11 the government, through the State Attorney General’s Office, announced that his body had been found in a clandestine grave inside a safe house located in Las Choapas, a neighboring municipality to where he was kidnapped. In the same place was found the body of a person known as “El bembas” and the body of Ernesto Ruíz Guillén, who had disappeared a month before and whose case Gregorio had published about.

Threats

He had received threats as a result of journalistic articles, he had had security incidents related to his work and also because of a family conflict (allegedly, the son of Teresa Hernández -owner of the El Mamey establishment- assaulted Gregorio’s daughter). Subsequently, and before his murder, he received a death threat from Teresa Hermandez, as a result of a note that Gregorio published.

In 2018, the journalist’s widow denounced to the Prosecutor’s Office that they wanted to burn his house.

Investigation and prosecution

Gregorio’s wife, Carmela Hernández, in her statement to the authorities mentioned that he had been threatened by Teresa Hernández as a result of a publication he made about homicides committed in the bar he owned.

A colleague of Gregorio’s told the Public Prosecutor’s Office that Gregorio had also been in an argument with Mary Sam, owner of an important business in the city of Coatzacoalcos, the luxurious restaurant Piquitos.

Empirical journalist. Founded the newspaper La Unión, a newspaper critical of the municipal governments of Medellín, a municipality near the port of Veracruz.

Facts

On Friday, January 2, 2015, a group of approximately nine men with long guns and their faces covered broke into the Sánchez family’s home. They were looking for Moisés. Without putting up any resistance, Moisés came out and they put him in a vehicle. They rifled through his belongings. They took his computer, his Nikon D40 camera, a tablet and his cell phone. According to press reports, investigations revealed that although he was kidnapped by hitmen from the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation, they were supported by state police and municipal transit agents.

The then governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, said that Moisés was not a journalist but a “cab driver” and “activist”, publicly dismissing the case.

On January 24, after 18 days missing, his remains were found in the neighboring municipality of Manlio Fabio Altamirano after the confession of ex-cop Clemente Noé Rodríguez, who said he had murdered the journalist the same night of the kidnapping. Moisés was dismembered and his body was placed in black plastic bags.

Threats

He had been intimidated on several occasions. He was threatened at gunpoint during the mayoralty of Aquiles A. Rodríguez Exsome (1998-2000); with another mayor, Omar Cruz Reyes (2013-2015), he had public friction. Moisés participated in various protests, led some, and was a candidate for municipal agent. As a journalist he published the creation of a self-defense group in Medellín, which evidenced the deteriorating security conditions and is the situation that many colleagues identify as the moment that could have culminated in his murder. At the end of December he told his wife that he had been told that Mayor Cruz Reyes was planning to “give him a scare”. A few days passed before an armed commando took Moises away.

On Monday, January 5, the mayor was questioned about the kidnapping of Moises Sanchez and responded: “He who owes nothing, fears nothing. On Wednesday, January 7, he no longer showed up for work, abandoned his post and fled.

Reporter, journalist, 52 years old. He collaborated with several media in the area of Córdoba and Tierra Blanca: El Mundo de Córdoba, El Sol de Córdoba, La Crónica de Tierra Blanca, Radio Max and La Ké Buena.

Facts

He was last seen on Sunday, May 3, 2015 in Tierra Blanca. Some sources quoted by the press indicate that he was intercepted on his way to his home in the community of Laguna Chica, in the municipality of Tezonapa, Veracruz; others indicate that he went to a party on Saturday night, where he was allegedly abducted by armed men.

The following day, on Monday, May 4, his body was found on the banks of a stream between the communities of Morelos and Rancho Tablas, in the municipality of Cosolapa, Oaxaca, 10 km from where he lived. He had 4 shots and traces of torture, he had his IDs and radio credentials with him.

Empirical reporter, age 46. For 15 years he was an employee of El Dictamen and occasionally collaborated in Notiver. After resigning from El Dictamen he founded his own digital media called “Escribiendo la verdad. Authentic tribune of Veracruz”. He also worked as a cab driver, had his own car and had joined the PRD. He was making efforts because he wanted to compete in the next elections for mayor of Medellín.

Facts

He was reported missing on June 30, 2015. That day he left to work in his cab and was last seen in the community El Tejar, municipality of Medellín, where he resided.

His body was later found in the middle of the road. The expert examination established that he had multiple injuries from being run over, so the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office said that his death was not related to his journalistic work, and even insisted that his death was accidental. However, his body was found half-naked, tortured and with a blindfold over his eyes.

His car – Nissan Tiida with cab paint and economic number 1962 – was not found at the scene, nor was his camera or notebook.

Self-taught photojournalist, 31 years old. He collaborated with Agencia Eklipse Photo, El Golfo Info, Agencia AVC, Cuartoscuro and Proceso. He was one of the founders of the Voz Alterna collective. He also worked as a photographer for the campaign of the later governor Javier Duarte and for the mayor of Xalapa, Elizabeth Morales, in the area of social communication.

Facts

He was murdered in Mexico City on July 31, 2015 along with 4 other victims: Nadia Dominique Vera Pérez -activist and friend of Rubén-, Mile Virginia Martín, Yesenia Atziri Quiroz Alfaro and Olivia Alejandra Negrete Avilés. The first three lived in the apartment located at 1909 Luz Saviñón Street, in the Narvarte neighborhood, where the murders took place. Negrete Avilés worked as a housekeeper in the building.

The crime was discovered around 7:00 p.m. the same day by the fourth inhabitant of the apartment.
The bodies of Rubén Espinosa and Nadia Vera were found on the floor of one of the bedrooms, covered by sheets. Mile and Yesenia were in another room: the former’s body was on the bed and the latter’s body was lying on the bathroom door integrated to the bedroom.

According to the report of the Gender Crimes Context Analysis Unit of the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office, Ruben was the first to be subdued; he was tied by the upper and lower extremities with gray tape. He had 12 stab wounds. The cause of death was a firearm projectile impact. Nadia was tied up, asphyxiated, and suffered stab wounds.

Yesenia and Mile had objects in their oral cavity to limit their speech. The former was tied up, asphyxiated and wounded with the same sharp instrument as the others. Mile suffered the same attacks but her body was the only one found half naked and with clear signs of sexual violence.

Alejandra’s body was found in the bathroom. She had no sharp wounds, she was not asphyxiated nor did she present injuries from restraints (bindings). She died from a gunshot wound, as did the other 4 victims.

Threats and incidents

Ruben was a well-known person in the public environment of Xalapa, capital of Veracruz. He was a photographer for Javier Duarte’s gubernatorial campaign and worked for Mayor Elizabeth Morales until 2013.

As a photojournalist he covered mainly social movements. He participated in demonstrations and protests to denounce murders of fellow journalists as well as harassment of students critical of the government. Through his photographs he documented abuses of power by the government headed by Javier Duarte. In 2013, Ruben Espinosa filed a complaint before the PGR for the operation carried out by SSP in Plaza Lerdo on September 14, 2013 (132/FEADLE/2013), in which he and other journalists were violated by authorities. Also during the photographic coverage of June 8, 2015 in Xalapa he was verbally and physically assaulted.

Journalist, 36 years old. Has collaborated with: Diario El Mundo, El Buen Tono and El Sol de Orizaba.

Facts

She was kidnapped in the early morning of February 8, 2016 by a group of men in uniform “like military men” who arrived at her home and dragged her away, according to what her relatives reported at the time. The men pointed guns at those who tried to stop the kidnapping. They ordered everyone to get down on the ground and said “we have an arrest warrant”. Witnesses saw three gray Nissan pickup trucks. They also said that the assailants were wearing a soldier’s uniform, a black vest, black boots, a helmet, a balaclava and a bulletproof vest. They say that the assailants spoke little among themselves and only uttered phrases such as “not here” (when they were in the wrong room), “this is it” (when they found the journalist), “we have an arrest warrant” and “get down on the floor”.
Anabel’s body was found the next day, February 9, 2016, on the Cuacnopalan-Oaxaca highway. She was half-naked, handcuffed and her head covered with a plastic bag; she had traces of torture.

Threats

She had had a security incident on August 30, 2014 while celebrating her birthday, accompanied by her family-including children-at a restaurant in the municipality of Acultzingo. Then a commando of soldiers arrived and began to search them. Anabel said “I am a journalist, why are you doing this? In response, one of the soldiers answered “look, you are eating with the enemy”, referring to someone else who was in the same restaurant. The journalist documented with her cell phone what was happening. The soldiers erased the photographs she had taken and told her to leave so that she would not get into trouble, according to a witness.

Reporter, 45 years old. He collaborated with: TV Azteca, Noreste de Poza Rica, Imagen del Golfo, Papantla Tukulama, Diario de Poza Rica and El Mundo de Poza Rica. He was director of a news media owned by him: Noticias MT. He also worked at the Poza Rica City Hall.

Facts

On May 15, 2016 he was murdered while walking through a well-to-do and crowded commercial area of Poza Rica. According to media reports, that Saturday morning Manuel Torres was covering an event of the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry -CANACINTRA- and from there he went to another event of the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico -PVEM-, where the councilman Carlos Christfield was. The latter offered him a ride to 2 de abril street, near the offices of the Transit Authority. There, the journalist got out of the vehicle, walked a few meters until a man approached him and shot him in the head with an accurate shot that ended his life immediately. His body was left lying on the asphalt.

Threats

His last publications were aimed at highlighting protests by workers of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the lack of water in some areas of Poza Rica and conflicts between criminal groups and security forces. However, as far as his professional career is concerned, his great informative vein was judicial or police reports, although he was careful to avoid details or information about organized crime, according to his colleagues. He preferred to report on other topics, as well as criticize politicians and officials, said a colleague in an interview with the press in the days following the murder.

Empirical reporter, 43 years old. Contributor to: El Piñero de la Cuenca, Al calor Político, Mi Revista Veracruz and El Cañero de la Cuenca. He founded his own news portal, En la línea de fuego. He also worked as a government employee in the Planning and Strategy area of the Veracruz Public Security Secretariat.

Facts

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016, after 10 p.m., two men opened fire on him while he was attending with his wife and children a family food stand outside his house called “La jardinera”. Specialized FGJE experts collected several percussion casings, 9 mm caliber.

Testimony from a family member indicates that before the execution, “a patrol car crossed the avenue, impeding the passage of other vehicles and facilitating the access of the compact car used by the assailants who came to attack Pedro”. The individuals who fired the shots left “calmly, they did not run, they did not seem to be in a hurry, nor alarmed, they took their car” and, after an exchange of high beams with the patrol car, “they left calmly”, according to the testimonies. They add that the officers “laughed” when the family asked them to detain the aggressors. The heartbreaking scene continued when the officers “hindered” the arrival of the ambulance by “giving the wrong address on two occasions.”

Threats

He had received several threats, one of the last coming from a local businessman who was presumably linked to the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation and was trying to open a new media outlet. The journalist filed the complaint and specified that “policemen dressed as Telmex workers” had come to his home and gave his wife the intimidating message.

One of his sons witnessed a threatening phone call as his father put the phone on speaker phone.
Tamayo had protection measures in place. Months earlier the CEAPP had transferred him to Tijuana for safety but he returned of his own free will.

After his murder, in 2020 his widow -also a journalist- was kidnapped, beaten and threatened: she was warned to stop demanding justice.

• (1) https://victor-manuel-baez-chino-25-anos-de-experiencia-que-terminaron-por-una-guerra/