Two More Journalists Become Victims of Mexico’s Culture of Violence

Ana Marcela Yarce Viveros, left, and Rocio González Trapaga. Photo: © Contralinea

On September 1st two women connected to the political magazine, Contralinea, were found murdered in a style of the Mexican drug cartels: Strangled, arms and legs bound, naked.

The LA Times reports that Ana Marcela Yarce Viveros, who helped to found the magazine, and Rocio González Trapaga, who had been working as a freelance reporter, were friends.

While the motive behind the murders remains unclear, this violence is indicative of the dangerous environment in which the Mexican journalist operates. According to Reporters Without Borders, eighty journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000.

In an article about the double murder, Reporters Without Borders also points out that “the authorities have still not implemented an agreement on safety mechanisms for journalists that was signed nearly a year ago.”

Mexico has the eighth highest rate of impunity regarding the murder of journalists (up one from last year), and a recent Freedom House report has downgraded Mexico’s press freedom score to “not free,” largely because of violence from criminal organizations. The relationship between the drug cartels, politicians, and violence against journalists is thoroughly explored in the CPJ report “Silence or Death in Mexico’s Press.”

Read more about the experience of Reporting in Mexico Under The Shadow of Drug Trafficking