Timeline

This timeline traces the main events during the period studied by Veracruz de los Silencios. Each elevation of the landscape represents an event, the most pronounced corresponding to the disappearances and murders of journalists. Click on the event or date to learn more about the event.

01/12/2010 Fidel Herrera leaves power and according to witnesses during the trials held in the United States, Herrera financed political campaigns with money from the Los Zetas cartel. Javier Duarte assumes power, who made his political career under Herrera’s protection.

08/03/2011 Journalist Noel López Olguín disappears and was later found murdered.

18/04/2011 The Secretariat of Public Security of Veracruz and the Armed Forces sign an agreement to carry out joint security operations.

25/05/2011 Javier Duarte dissolves the intermunicipal police of Xalapa.

20/06/2011 Miguel Ángel Velasco, a journalist nicknamed Milo Vela, is murdered at his home along with his wife and son Misael, also a journalist.

26/07/2011 Yolanda Ordaz is murdered. She was last seen on July 24th, her dismembered remains were deposited in front of the Grupo Imagen offices on July 26th.

01/09/2011 The Duarte government imprisons two Twitter users for over a month for spreading rumors about attacks on schools.

10/09/2011 The Navy announces the arrest of 80 people allegedly involved with Los Zetas cartel. Later, due to complaints from human rights organizations, it was revealed that many of the cases were fabricated.

17/09/2011 Journalist Gabriel Fonseca disappears in Acayucan.

20/09/2011 35 bodies were left in the most commercial and elegant area of Boca del Río, where a national meeting of attorneys general was taking place. It is considered a major narco-message announcing the entry of Los Mata Zetas into that plaza, later called the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The bodies showed signs of torture.

20/09/2011 Local and national media reported that 11 lifeless bodies were found in the Veracruz-Boca del Río area, while the Reforma newspaper reported 14.

28/09/2011 A video is circulated on the internet showing five people dressed in black, with covered faces, claiming to be Los Matazetas and responsible for the massacre of 35 people whose bodies were abandoned in Boca del Río.

04/10/2011 The federal government of President Felipe Calderón (PAN), together with the governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte (PRI), launched the «Safe Veracruz» operation, which involves a federal unified command with the deployment of military troops, increased resources for security, and the depuration of police forces. It is announced as an attempt to dismantle Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

06/10/2011 The Secretariat of the Navy reported the discovery of 36 bodies in the conurbated area of the Port of Veracruz-Boca del Río.

07/10/2011 After the scandal over several massacres that resulted in at least 70 deaths in less than a month, Reynaldo Escobar Pérez resigns as attorney general.

18/10/2011 Felipe Amadeo Flores Espinosa is appointed attorney general of Veracruz.

04/11/2011 At least 28 bodies are found in two mass graves in the municipality of Manlio Fabio Altamirano. Over 100 bodies have been found in the port area in just over a month.

13/12/2011 The Navy arrests Raúl Lucio Hernández Lechuga, alias El Lucky or Z-16, alleged co-founder of Los Zetas and leader of that group in Veracruz and the eastern-southeastern region. He declared that they paid a monthly «payroll» of about 30 million pesos to municipal and transit police officers throughout the state. He also said he had contacts with the State through the Veracruz Investigation Agency.

21/12/2011 Governor Javier Duarte, ordered the disolussion of the Veracruz and Boca del Río are intermunicipal police. The security of the port is entrusted to the Naval Police (Marina).

28/04/2012 Journalist Regina Martínez is murdered at her home in Xalapa. She was one of the most critical and recognized reporters in Veracruz. She published in Proceso, one of the country’s most important political magazine.

03/05/2012 The remains of the three photojournalists and the advertising saleswoman: Gabriel Huge, Guillermo Luna, Esteban Rodríguez, and Irasema Becerra are found in black bags in the Zamorana Canal, Boca del Río.

07/06/2012 The governor of the state of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, announced the creation of the State Commission for the Attention and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP), which would come into effect in 2013. He released this at an event for the day of Freedom of Expression, amidst strong criticism for the increase in journalist killings.

13/06/2012 According to a protected witness who testified in the United States, businessman Francisco Colorado Cessa, detained in that country, contributed with 12 million dollars to Fidel Herrera’s 2004 electoral campaign.

14/06/2012 On the night of June 13th, Víctor Manuel Báez Chino was kidnapped. His corpse was later thrown onto the streets of downtown Xalapa. A week earlier, he had been awarded by Governor Duarte.

19/07/2012 Miguel Morales, a journalist for El Diario de Poza Rica, was last seen on July 19th, his wife reported his disappearance on the 23rd.

20/07/2012 The Secretary of Public Security of the state of Veracruz, Arturo Bermúdez Zurita, announced the creation of Grupo Tajín, a special commando unit composed of 206 elite police officers who were trained for four months by the Navy Secretariat.

28/07/2012 The Mexican Navy arrested «El Amarillo,» the leader of Los Zetas, in the southeast of the country. He was accused of participating in the murder of Mexican Navy soldiers in the state of Veracruz in April of that year.

12/09/2012 The Navy announced that Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, alias El Coss, considered the leader of the Gulf Cartel, was arrested in Tamaulipas. He was later extradited to the United States, where he was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment.

07/10/2012 Authorities reported that in the northern state of Coahuila, in a confrontation, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, alias El Lazca or El Z-3, supposed founder and top leader of the Los Zetas cartel, was killed.

11/01/2013 The commander, the second commander, and six fourth-ranking police officers of the municipal police of Úrsulo Galván were arrested and disarmed in the community of El Arenal by state police attached to Grupo Tajín. Years later, the CNDH will issue a recommendation linking 15 Grupo Tajín police officers to forced disappearances.

22/01/2013 Sergio Landa was last seen on January 20th; the disappearance was reported on the 22nd. Weeks earlier, he had been kidnapped in front of the newspaper offices and released through the efforts of the Mexican Navy.

17/04/2013 Videos are released showing Salvador Manzur, treasurer of Duarte’s government, involved in embezzlement and as a link in a federal network of public funds diversion.

07/05/2013 Governor Javier Duarte ordered the dissolution of the intermunicipal police of Coatzacoalcos-Minatitlán.

14/09/2013 The government of Javier Duarte repressed teachers protesting against the Education Reform in Xalapa, as part of a series of demonstrations that were taking place across the country at the time. The teachers were evicted from Plaza Lerdo on a night during which journalists were also pursued and repressed.

25/11/2013 A group of journalists protested during the appearance of the Secretary of Public Security, Arturo Bermúdez Zurita, to demand accountability for the repression suffered during the eviction of teachers. Later, three of the complainants withdrew their lawsuit, leaving only Rubén Espinosa and Roger López, who were intimidated by veiled threats from officials and offered 350,000 pesos to drop charges and publicly retract.

05/02/2014 Journalist Gregorio Jiménez was kidnapped from his home in Villa Allende, Coatzacoalcos. Duarte announced an operation involving more than two thousand people to search for him. He was murdered the following day.

11/02/2014 The government of Veracruz announced the discovery of Gregorio Jiménez’s body. Prosecutor Felipe Amadeo Flores Espinosa said the murder was not related to journalistic work but to «personal revenge.»

19/02/2014 Felipe Amadeo Flores Espinosa resigned as prosecutor.

19/02/2014 Governor Javier Duarte appointed Luis Ángel Bravo Contreras as the new prosecutor. He was the third prosecutor of the administration.

20/02/2014 Georgina Domínguez Colio, spokeswoman for Duarte’s government, was dismissed. She was considered one of the strongest figures in the administration, known as «The Vice Governor.»

20/02/2014 Javier Duarte appointed Alberto Silva Ramos as the new spokesman. He was a former mayor of Tuxpan and during his term had sued four journalists for alleged extortion charges.

22/02/2014 In the city of Mazatán, state of Sinaloa, the Mexican Navy arrested Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias El Chapo, for the second time.

01/05/2014 The news portal Animal Político published the report «The Ghost Companies of Veracruz,» revealing a network of 21 companies used by Duarte and some of his senior officials to embezzle funds. It is the first of several reports that will be published in the following months in various media outlets. It initiates a scandal that will culminate in the downfall of the governor.

11/08/2014 Journalist Octavio Rojas Hernández, a contributor to El Buen Tono de Córdoba, was found dead in the neighboring state of Oaxaca.

 21/10/2014 Governor Javier Duarte, Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, the Secretary of National Defense, and the country’s top security officials present Fuerza Civil, claiming it was an «elite force» with cutting-edge technology and weaponry, composed of 2,000 personnel trained in Mexico and other countries. Included in the new force was the failed Grupo Tajín.

24/11/2014 Journalist Roger López attempts to protest before the Veracruz congress and his banner is taken away. He had been repressed along with other colleagues a year earlier during the eviction of a teachers’ demonstration at Plaza Lerdo, Xalapa.

02/01/2015 Journalist Moisés Sánchez is kidnapped from his home. During the initial hours, Governor Duarte dismissed the case by saying he was not a journalist but a taxi driver. His body would be found several weeks later, on April 4th. It was dismembered.

04/04/2015 Journalist Armando Saldaña is found dead in a sugar cane field in the neighboring state of Oaxaca. The body showed signs of torture and 4 gunshot wounds.

23/06/2015 The Mexican Army and Federal Police arrest Rubén Oseguera González, alias El Menchito, son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

30/06/2015 Journalist Juan Mendoza’s body is found on a road near the municipality of Medellín. Authorities presented the case as a supposed hit-and-run.

31/07/2015 Journalist Rubén Espinosa is murdered in an apartment in Mexico City in an incident where four women are also victims of femicide, including activist Nadia Vera. Both Espinosa and Vera had fled from Veracruz due to threats and fear of reprisals from Duarte’s government because of their critical positions. The bodies of Espinosa and Vera showed signs of torture.

11/01/2016 Five young people from Playa Vicente, including a minor, were reported missing after being intercepted by state police in Tierra Blanca. Prosecutor Luis Ángel Bravo confirmed that the police handed the youths over to the criminals, and a month later, remains of at least two of the youths were identified on a ranch known as El Limón.

19/01/2016 In a ravine known as La Aurora, a clandestine grave believed to have been used by the Veracruz state police was found. Initially, it was reported that 22 bodies were found there, then 19, and finally the prosecutor’s office said there were 6, although witnesses have said there were many more. Governor Javier Duarte would be indicted for this case, accused of forced disappearance and obstructing investigations.

25/01/2016 Journalist Pedro Tamayo Rosas, from Tierra Blanca, fled to Oaxaca for 24 hours due to feeling at risk for his safety.

08/02/2016 Journalist Anabel Flores was kidnapped from her home on February 8th by an armed group of men wearing security forces uniforms. Hours later, on February 9th, her body was found dumped on a highway with bruises on her back and her pants down.

01/04/2016 In front of the Government Palace in Xalapa, a banner was placed bearing the names of journalists Regina Martínez and Rubén Espinosa, both murdered, demanding political trial against Governor Duarte.

23/04/2016 The Federal Court for the Western District of Texas, United States, sentenced businessman Pancho Colorado to 20 years in prison. He was found guilty of «conspiracy» to launder money from drug trafficking by Los Zetas and revealed that he covered up illegal profits through public contracts from a company he owned and the Veracruz government. Colorado was linked in the case to former governor Fidel Herrera, whom, according to a witness, he financed his election campaign.

15/05/2016 Journalist Manuel Torres González was murdered in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz public road. The prosecutor’s office said he was not a journalist, but a collaborator of the city council.

20/07/2016 Journalist Pedro Tamayo Rosas died as a result of an attack perpetrated near his home in a street food stall owned by his children, where he was shot 12 times.

04/08/2016 Arturo Bermúdez Zurita resigned as director of public security of Veracruz after a journalistic report by the newspaper Reforma revealed that he owned 24 companies and that he and his wife had acquired 19 properties, including 5 residences in the United States, worth 2.4 million dollars since he was a Veracruz official.

08/08/2016 Based on an anonymous complaint received from relatives of missing persons, on August 8th, a large clandestine cemetery was located in the area known as Colinas de Santa Fe, on the outskirts of the port of Veracruz. Three years later, at the end of the forensic work, 15 clandestine graves with 298 skulls and 22,000 bone fragments had been found.

12/10/2016 After several corruption scandals involving Javier Duarte personally, his family and some of his closest officials, he requested a leave of absence from the governorship without expressing the reason.

15/10/2016 Javier Duarte goes into hiding.

15/04/2017 Javier Duarte is arrested in Panajachel, Guatemala, and extradited to Mexico, where he has been in prison since then. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison for money laundering and criminal association charges. In 2022, a new trial was initiated against him for forced disappearance.