Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Monday, August 10, 2015

"The murder of Ruben Espinosa is a political and legal problem. Was Governor Durante Involved?

Borderland Beat by DD
photo by Ruben Espinoza on cover of Proceso
Consider yourself an enemy of the people" government spokesman for Governor Duarte of
Veracruz said to Ruben Espinosa to prevent his entry to a press conference Governor Duarte was giving.

That happened after the publication of a now-famous cover of Proceso magazine that  Duarte
appears in profile with a particularly big belly and his face emanating a disturbing contempt,
wearing a police cap.  When the magazine, with the headline, “Veracruz, a Lawless State”, was
published, Duarte sent his minions out across the state ordered it be bought in bulk so that no one else could see it. 

But first things first:

LEGAL

On Friday, July 31, in the Mexico City colonia of Narvate, Ruben Espinosa's body was found in the apartment of a friend, along with the bodies of 4 women.   At least 2 and possibly 3 of the women were raped..  One of the women was Nadia Vera,  who had attended a university in Veracruz and had been a political activist seeking  justice for assassinated  journalist in Mexico.  More info on who the women were can be found in a story published on BB by Otis .

As reported by Lucio on BB street security cameras had captured images of the suspected perpetrators leaving the apartment building at about 3:00PM Friday afternoon, one of them carrying a suitcase on wheels which investigators assume contained property stolen from the apartment.  Investigators quickly identified one of the culprits through fingerprint analysis and arrested Pacheco Gutiérrez, who had previously served 10 years in prison for rape and robbery

Prosecutors claim he confessed to being at the scene, but denied he took part in the 5 murders.

The PGJDF (the Attorney General Office in DF) said on Sunday, 2 days after the crime, that it was clear it was simply a case of robbery, rape, and murder and his office would thoroughly investigate it.

POLITICAL

Before giving the face to to face with the press, Rios Garza, of PGJDF had met privately in their offices with the editor of the weekly Proceso, Rafael Rodríguez Castañeda; the publisher of the agency Cuartoscuro, Pedro Valtierra; director of the Network of Journalists on Foot, Daniela Pastrana; the director of the international organization Article 19, Dario Ramirez, and representatives of International PEN association.There, journalists and activists asked the prosecutor promptly to classify it as crime against journalists 

That would make it a federal crime and it would be turned over to the federal PGR.    The state prosecutor told them that it could not be a crime against journalist because the threats that had been made against him were made in Veracruz, not in Mexico City,  and that at the time of his murder he was not a journalist - he was unemployed.

The Federal District Attorney General has offered information that doesn’t change the events but does distort their perception. They insisted that the victims had had a prolonged party and that entry through the apartment door was not forced. They also emphasized the importance of
performing a toxicological screen on the victims’ bodies. Such a presentation suggests a party
that got out of control. The truth is that the murderers arrived the day after the night in question,
and, if they entered through the door, they could have done so under a variety of subterfuges.
Whatever,  the victims may have been drunk but that does not justify their deaths.   

When there is government involvement in a crime, It is a very common tactic of the police to demonize or place the blame for the killing of innocents on the innocents themselves.  The prosecutor here was very quick to jump to the conclusion that  Ruben and the 4 women killed with him were having a wild party with the killers and the party that got of hand.
 
Robbery was also mentioned as a possible motive. Cell phones were missing from the scene and cash had been removed from their wallets. In footage that captured the killers on video, one of them is carrying a suitcase.  What could young people who lived at a subsistence level have of value in their apartment that would justify murdering all of them?

And the political angle? In an unforgivable manner, the special federal attorney’s office charged
with attending to crimes against journalists has not taken on the case. 
Espinosa had received threats, attacked and beaten by agents of the Durante govt., was being followed and photographed by govt.agents and had gone public on social media with all that.   With the help of the NGO Article 19, he sought refuge in the Federal District.  Article  19 had already helped relocate over 70 journalist from all across Mexico to Mexico City whose work had put them in danger.  It was thought that Mexico City was a safe haven because of less violence than many other parts of the country and the journalists would be safer mingling with the other 20 million people living there.  .

Vera also had been a victim of attacks and threats and she had retreated to Mexico City for safety reasons before Ruben self-exiled himself there.  She had made statements that if anything happened to her, Durante would be responsible.
 

The evidence so far that the killings were political and not just everyday street crimes is circumstantial up to this point, but the evidence is certainly sufficient to justify the federal intervention in the investigation through the new section in the PGR that is charged with handling crimes against journalist.  (though since its creation in 2012 it has not prosecuted a single murder case of the more than 70 that have occurred).    Wikipedia has a list of murdered and disappeared journalist in Mexico

Their torture prior to being shot in the nape of the neck is a sign of vengeance. Organized crime
has unleashed a real vocabulary of violence; the style of the killings follows a precise code. We
are not facing a simple robbery; in any case, the theft results from the principal crime, not a motive for it  (a journalist’s telephone is worth more for its schedule and contacts, for example, than for its price on the black market).

Universal has reported that Reporters without Borders says there have been 88 cases of murdered journalist since 2000 putting Mexico in 148th place out of 180 countries meaning that in 147 countries, journalists find safer conditions than they do in Mexico for practicing their profession.

in Veracruz there are seventeen unsolved murders of journalists –according to the organization Article 19—as well as proofs of the harassment against Rubén and Nadia. These facts shine a spotlight on his government.
 
And what is Governor Duarte’s responsibility?   First a little background on Javier Duarte.

Duarte was the PRI candidate for Governor of the State of Veracruz in 2010. 

THE ELECTION
When voting closed on July 2, 2010 Duarte de Ochoa was originally declared winner in the 3 person race with 50% of the vote, 16% more than his nearest competitor.  The other parties demanded a recount based on fraud.  After a recount the authorities said he still won, but by only 2%.  


BODIES IN BOCA RIO;  
In September 2011, 35 bodies were found tortured and murdered in two abandoned trucks in the town of Boca del Rio, Veracruz outside a building where governor Duarte de Ochoa was conducting a meeting

 25 million pesos in state money transported in suitcases for unknown purposes. 
 In January 2012, federal police arrested 2 men at the Toluca airport who were carrying nearly 2 million dollars (US) and traveling on a Veracruz state plane who could not give the origin or destination of the plane and could not give a purpose of the money. 
Finance Secretary Tomas Ruiz Gonzalez claimed that in spite of the odd mode of transportation, the money was legal and intended to pay for the advertisement of local festivals.  Shortly thereafter the State Treasurer resigned.  The federal government announced that their investigation determined the money was legal and in June 2015, returned all of it (with interest) to the State of Veracruz.

Journalist killings
  As of 1 August 2015, twelve journalists and crime reporters have been killed during the tenure of Duarte de Ochoa and three more have gone missing   Most of them have gone unpunished.  .The most notorious case was that of journalist Regina Martínez Pérez, widely known for her reporting on Veracruz state corruption and its links to drug cartels, who was found strangled to death in her apartment on 28 April 2012. State officials claimed her murder was unrelated to the regular threats of violence she was receiving for her reporting, but was rather a crime of passion following a robbery.  

Due to the unprecedented number of journalist killings during Duarte de Ochoa's term as governor, the international association Reporters Without Borders named the state of Veracruz one of the ten most dangerous places in the world in which to practice journalism.


The 15 murders and disappearances have occurred under diverse circumstances. What’s undeniable is that nothing has been done to resolve them satisfactorily nor to stop their continued occurrence. Moreover, the Veracruz administration has accosted the
independent press; the local Congress approved the “Duarte Law” to penalize with one to four
years in prison anyone who disturbs the public order by providing information on social networks about violence (only the Supreme Court prevented this absurdity from becoming law).

It would be an understatement to say that Ruben did not have a good working relationship with the Durante government.  


The photojournalist Ruben Espinosa was the most fervent defenders of press freedom in Veracruz and one of those who demanded the investigation of the murders of journalists in that state.
It would seem that a photo journalist would not pose the same kind of threat to a public official than a print reporter/journalist but a good photographer can capture a moment on film that words could never accurately describe.  

In Sept. 2013, Ruben was covering a scene where the state police were forcibly and violently removing some protesting teachers from the Plaza de Lerdo in the state capitol.  It is a public plaza.  .  

The State Police beat him and focibly and violently took the memory card from his camera.  Although Ruben Espinosa, along with other reporters, filed a criminal complaint, the government of Javier Duarte sought dialogue with him, offering money to withdraw his complaint. Espinosa refused the offer.  No action was taken on his complaint.

But he seems to have gotten onto Durante's enemies list for photos which captured personality traits that Durante did not like being made public.  What outraged  Duarte, according to the author of the picture, for the ruler the affront was the close-up that also shows a morbid obesity for  which Durante has always felt insecure and the target  of the mockery from  insiders and outsiders.


Lydia Cacho, in a Aristegui Noticia article said that It seems trivial or ridiculous  that many rulers personally hold grudges against  certain journalists (men or women) that show some of their undeniable unflattering  personality traits that they  try to hide and that generates insecurity. "Not only do we talk about the body structure, also of gestures that betray all people even if they try to hide them - clenched fist, clenched jaw, etc."

Ruben said that the spokesman had said that the governor also angered that other famous Cuartoscuro close-up, in which Duarte eyes seem to sprout like a choleric  gargoyle in thrusting his body against journalists and those that questioned him.   He is showing his teeth in rage attack like a rabid attack..



Again and again  the Governors security people  warned Ruben should no longer live in Veracruz, and he was on the black list of the enemies.  

In May and June he realized that he was being followed by 3 men with close cropped hair and they were photographing him in front of his house, in front of his work place, and when he was working in the field. 

Lydia Vera, one of the women murdered along with Ruben and who was his girlfriend was a member of the Xalapa Student Assembly. She was one of the people assaulted by police from the Secretariat of Public Security in Veracruz during the parade on November 20, 2012, when she protested against the presidential elections and the PRI, as well as for the journalists killed. It is certain that her participation in the Rompeviento TV’s special report, Veracruz: the Forgotten Grave, was fundamental.  In the TV report, Vera said;

"We start to really worry because the disappearance rate started to rise after 2010 when Javier
Duarte became governor. Violence started to spread, then, yes, we start to worry because we
begin to become the product that they need. Here the product may be that, as woman, they grab you for trafficking, or as a student, they grab you for ‘contract killing' as colleagues would say. Or it may be that the problem is all of us who obstruct them, both the government and drug traffickers.
 

"So we're between two fronts: illegal and legal repression. Because drug traffickers govern in this state, drug traffickers are ruling. The Zetas literally have anything and everything in this
manipulated state."

Vera was threatened and harrassed by the police for activist work seeking justice for murdered journalist.

Durante has adopted some of the tactics used by the drug cartels such as  "plato or plomo".  
Animal Politico reported in a story that Ruben said in an interview that in his opinion, 98 percent of the press in Veracruz is bought.

To ingratiate himself with the media, Duarte raffled off cars (though a journalist colleague of Ruben could not collect his because he had been killed).  " I gave to you, now you have to serve me, "

"in Duarte's Veracruz, the press are invited to breakfasts, have cars screens and iPads are raffled to them and are given money in exchange for their complicity."  Durante doesn't need to add the threat of violence along with gifts.  (although recently he told journalist "Behave yourselves", implying that the messengers are responsible for what executioners effect.  This was one day before the body of another journalist was discovered.)

Rubens own death points out, like a finishing touch to what has been already announced by the 12 journalists killed before him under the government of the same Javier Duarte, "...and if they didn't serve him,  they are persecuted, harassed and killed."

By this mechanism, they co-opt you or eliminate you.   through threats or privileges, it diminishes the possible support of a local professional group that would prefer to consider what is occurring is normal so as to not put itself at risk. There is also the lack of response by the Mexican state, which has finished building a space of impunity and offers it as a guarantee of action for perpetrators to act freely and without fear that anything will happen to them.

The authorities may refuse to admit it, but the death of photojournalist Ruben Espinosa, and
eighty-seven other deaths of journalists in Mexico that have not been cleared up are incontestable evidence of it.  In a report given to the second Standing Committee in the Senate and reported by Victor Ballinas in La Jornada , researchers from the University of the Americas in Puebla stated that Mexico—measured with 59 countries—occupies the penultimate place for countries with the highest levels of impunity in the world.

On a global scale Eastern European countries had the lowest levels of impunity, with Croatia in
first place. He also stated that the study’s analysis of Latin America showed that Mexico,
Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador are the countries with the worst levels of
impunity; [moreover,] they also show a direct correlation with corruption.

 Mexico has four judges for every 100 000 inhabitants, when the international average is 17,
adding that:  Countries with the lowest levels of impunity have 45 judges for every 100,000
inhabitants. 

The Law to Protect Journalist and Activist that was passed in 2012 was supposed to provide a mechanism for their protection.  Here is how that "mechanism" has worked so far.

Panic buttons with no connection, emergency telephones that no one answers, police patrols that don’t happen, security cameras that take months to be installed, non-existent follow-up on
investigations… this is how the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and
Journalists ['Mechanism'] “functions”.

The flaws in this program—created in June 2012, in theory, to protect journalists and activists
whose work put them at risk—were exposed through [the effort of] hundreds of civic and
international organizations that conducted an assessment of the operation.

Animal Political reported one of the most common protective measures is providing the individual with a panic button. This occurred in 13 of the 59 cases that were investigated. In all of them, the button failed to work.  In reality it functions like a placebo, since the Human Rights defenders and journalists have them, but when they have tried to use them, they don’t work in the majority of cases.”

 Emergency telephones were another protective measure given in 22 monitored cases. In 14 of
those case, phone calls were placed to the emergency numbers, but no one answered on any of the lines.

The installation of closed-circuit cameras and emergency locks were provided in 17 cases, but in 11 of those, the devices were installed with delays of 1 to 6 months.

Ruben Espinosa did not avail himself of any of the mechanisms provided to the law intended to protect him.  He did not trust the government after his 2013 episode covering the teachers protests.  And probably more importantly he knew the history of what happened to journalist that bucked the system. 

Reporters without Borders says there have been 88 journalist murders since 2000 putting Mexico in 148th place out of 180 countries meaning that in 147 countries, journalists find safer conditions than they do in Mexico for practicing their profession.

Ruben would also have been aware that there have been 15 such murders since Durante took office.  Up until June, there had been 6 this year.  (With his death on July 31, that makes one journalist murder a month.)

After continued harassment, beatings, and a confrontation with a man with a gun, and the surveillance he knew he was under, he decided to go into self -exile in Mexico City which had traditionally been a safe haven for journalist.  But the City of Hope didn't save him. 

He was not the first journalist exiled from that entity; before him another 30 had fled But he didn't exactly stay under the radar.

He contacted the NGO Article 19 and gave them his story, he did interviews on national and internation media.  Article 19 issued an alert to the Govt.

He also contacted Lydia Cacho at Proceso to seek her advice.  She has lived with threats and harassment for years. 

A couple of weeks I received a call from a young colleague. Ruben had asked me how many years managing fear, learn how to process an endless amount of death threats, some veiled and others clear and direct.

For this young photo reporter, correspondent graphic news agency Cuartoscuro and Proceso magazine, insomnia, lack of appetite, depression I always wanted to call sadness for not invoke his hard daily presence, they were enemies that you  have to get used to live with.

I recommended a therapist specializing in PTSD, the syndrome becomes collateral damage of the work of journalists and defenders of human rights professionally.

Post-traumatic stress is that dark passenger who sits on the lives of those who live or snapshots systematic intense forms of violence and threatening the physical safety and emotional health of the victim

In a Proceso story she said Ruben said that the spokesman had said that the governor also angered that other famous Cuartoscuro close-up, in which Duarte eyes seem to sprout like an angry gargoyle in fanning the body against journalists and those they questioned him He is showing the teeth in rage attack.

Again and again they warned that Reuben was no longer living in Veracruz, who was blacklisted from enemies.

"Ruben decided not to give up despite the harsh and real death threats he had received over the years to do a good job in Veracruz, everything is documented.  He was planning to return to Veracruz.

"It makes us wonder is it really  worth the risk to unveil one more outrage in a country of unworthy rulers? Just to answer that is always pays to tell the truth, indeed, work against ignominy, trying to build a country worth living, grow, love.

Cacho shared a moment when she was in a solidarity march after Rubens death;
"I can hear the voice of Ruben and I heard so many and so many other colleagues humming in a solidarity march side by side: "you cannot kill the truth by killing journalist"..

What has happened in Veracruz since the murders  of the Espinoza and Vera?


His death has captured the attention of the international press around the world.  but what is happening back home.

The University Struggle Committee, which brings together students from the Universidad de Veracruzana, Faculty of Humanities and Social and environmental activists, reported that after the murder of activist Nadia Vera Process and photojournalist Ruben Espinosa, the police harassment and Civil Force in the state of Veracruz increased.  In a statement, they regretted that after protests by social groups of  the treacherous murder in the Narvarte colony that patrols of Civil Force and the Ministry of Public Security have returned to haunt the university campuses, as well as the homes of more visible activists.

University Struggle Committee added that the murders of Ruben Espinosa Vera and Nadia precede a cluster of arbitrariness, intimidation and threats by the government apparatus of Javier Duarte:  'It is the bread and butter for many of us, we have been kidnapped, stroll, threatened, arrested, severely beaten by members of the security forces. We have felt the grip of the police in the neck, electric shock batons, boot into our bodies, the machete, the hits, the siege of monitoring and threats, we saw our names and faces on the blacklists SSP '.University Struggle Committee hold responsible  the government of Javier Duarte, and the Secretary of Public Security of Veracruz, Arturo Bermudez Zurita. 

In the words of Ruben Espinoza :

"It's sad to think of Veracruz, there are no words to say how bad that state is ... Death chose  Veracruz, death decided to live there."

62 comments:

  1. This is sad, in this case Even though they know who killed them. Justice will not prevail.

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  2. Chapo, please eliminate Durante. It will cement you forever as a hero in the minds of the people.

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    Replies
    1. Do you think chapo is going to read your post???? Better jump back into reality bro

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    2. Chapo wont do that, chapo needs governors to work for him.

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    3. 11:02 chapo may not read it, but you did, and many others will...
      --many of those like me, will second that motion...
      --just for blaming all the ills of mexico on the "narcs", on the military and the marinas ot the police's lowest ranks, they should unite and hung the real opressors, the politicians, the generals, the police chiefs...the "autoridades" that were elected to serve the people, not to serve themselves from the people's...

      Delete
    4. La marrana parada es zeta, pero le gustan los centavos, vengan de donde vengan, anque estan "enchapopotados"...
      --he, (oh he, is kown as la marrana con ojos de toro loco" ordered the job, real name javier duarte de ochoa, gobernador del estado de Veracruz, he ordered the narvarte murders, peña nieto, el pri and el pvem declared "habemus presidente..."

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    5. Fat Ass duarte is a Zeta, Veracruz is the las zeta scum stronghold.

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    6. That makes a lot of sense, 1:27

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  3. Thanks dd. Great story. So sad

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  4. Its ok we except this part of Mexico government. No freedom of the press. We except this Tamps.

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  5. Borderland beat has become boring. No interesting articles anymore smh

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    Replies
    1. 7:09 yer Comments are ALWAYS "sooo interesting"...
      Now go to youtube and play with el Shaka or jenny rivera "vas y chingas a tu madre"

      Delete
    2. 11.23
      Me encanta tu culo..and 7.09 stop complaining about bullshit?
      BB is news of Mexico and the border not a fuckin entertainment for bells?
      Maybe YT would suit you for jollies?

      Delete
  6. The same thought occurred about the robbery aspect,these people were not exactly rich?The motive for the Duarte involvement seems a little flimsy?Of course it's entirely possible but it would have to be more pertinent than unflattering pictures surely?If it were true it would be terrifying,a psychotic governor who orders deaths on a whim?

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    1. You might be surprised at how close to home your comments are with regards to his mental and psychological state - one of the reasons he likely made such a suitable PRI puppet candidate. Hard working everyday Jarochos have no respect for him, despise him, will spit on his grave when the day comes. His election was an obvious sham. With just a phone call to his puppet masters, like a deranged spoiled rich child, he can and will obliterate any one who has the courage to cross his enormous ego or step on his self-perceived importance - regardless of big fish or not. Was he involved? We will never know.

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    2. @7:29. Most of us have had "unflattering pictures" taken of us - by family members, at a office Christmas party. We feel a little embarrassed but put it behind us and go on with our lives.
      But for a politician, any politician, maybe the worst thing you can do to him is cause people to laugh at him or make fun of him. If he thinks he is omnipotent or all powerful, and he has a mean vile temperament, he may well seek revenge.
      Also, don't forget Ruben did not just take pictures, but was a leader in the student movements in Veracruz seeking answers and justice for the many murdered journalist in Veracruz.

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    3. We see celebrities actually getting physical?Also if allied to the fact of investigating him and hassling him,he only has to suggest it?
      It's horrible to think it could be true,I was looking at Nadia Vera,she looked a vibrant intelligent woman,such a waste on every level..Thanks DD

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  7. Javier duarte de ochoa alias "la marrana con panza de ballena y ojos de toro loco"...
    --su novio se llama ricardo garcia escalante de Panuco veracruz. Alcalde o candidato a alcalde.
    --de 2010 a 2011 triplicó la deuda del estado de 20 mil millones de pesos a 60 mil millones de pesos o mas y aun sigue consiguiendo "prestamos"...

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  8. DD, you really should put in a link to this article, since you quote extensively from it:

    http://mexicovoices.blogspot.mx/2015/08/mexico-press-freedom-evidence-in.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dude chill the fuck out,we get it..
      Someone drumming up support for that blog?

      Delete
    2. @10:00 AM ; I use MV a lot, they are better translators than me. and it's faster. I used 2 stories from MV in writing this article, as well as reading over 20 other articles and where I used more than a sentence or 2 from a source, I put a hyperlink. I put a hyperlink to MV's source rather than MV simply because it is awkward to credit MV for the translation as well as credit the original source when you are using hyper-links.in a sentence.
      When I cut and paste a story from MV, I always credit MV, as well as the individual there that did the translation.
      But you are right, so I added a thanks to MV at the end of the story for translating some of the material I used.

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    3. 10:02 you have no idea, you can leave 100's of links to each post on BB, and drown this blog in the popó...that is the purpose of the "snow job" and the reason the practice got too old real quick...some phrases like "I am become death" require quoting the source, and you can find it on 100's of sites, that is important, I would never read the "bawaghdad gita", but am more interested on the physicists that work on atomic bombs, like Oppenheimer...or Netanyahoo, hellbent on dragging the US to war again, for profit, israel always makes profit, who needs oil when the neighbors have so much to covet?

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  9. Governor Duarte to give testimony today to DF prosecutors (in VZ). One of the two other suspects is a former DF cop, fired for assault (easy access to apt?):

    http://www.eldailypost.com/news/2015/08/suspect-names-names-in-narvarte-murders-reforma/

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  10. I think the government is as bad as the narcos. throw them both in equally and things will turn around

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  11. This post is way off

    the "activist" was not a big fish, it has never been known that a low level activist was chased state to state by hitmen without a car.

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    Replies
    1. He had his skin in the game, probably you are jelaous, and nop you are wrong hi was a big fish regarding political influences knowledge.

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    2. 11:15 is getting paid by "la marrana ojos de toro loco" OBVIOUSLY...
      --hey maricon, que gustitos, defiende a otro güey mas carita, no pinches mames güey...
      --la marrana sin cola tambien quiere el trabajo de WILLIE la ballena de los hank rohn, para que vean quien es la mas panzona...
      --Procurador del DF says ruben Espinoza's murder is not an attack against a journalist because he was unemployed at the time, and that the women had been partying all night, that they "knew the killers" and a while lot of bullshit, the classic satanization to sanitize the situation, mexico's government specializes in that shit, but not many believe that crap anymo'...
      --read: mexican marinas kidnap and torture other marinas, hold them imprisoned at sea...

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    3. Duarte ate a I fish, it is all en la panza, I think the fish name was keiko, la marrana parada is being defended by el Nino Verde, pvem, murderer and corrupt, and by el pri, they only care about "their people"...

      Delete
  12. Ciudadanos who vote these kinds of pigs into office are gente cupables. Where are the Jarochos? For protest?

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    Replies
    1. Duarte "won" with 50% of the vote...at first...in a threesome, I mean three way campaign from 3 different parties...
      --After the election, and the vote fraud, and LUCKILY, because the fecal fecal fecalderonato was still in power, a recount was demanded by the other candidates and parties, and duarte still won, by 2%, but he won...
      --I am sure he financed one of the other candidates or both to win, like peña nieto, because they just can not steal or buy all the votes now...
      --divided, they fall, duhh!!! You wanna call it "winning" you are welcome...

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    2. 2:15pm - In our neighbourhood of Boca del Rio, as in others, blue banners (Miguel Yunes / PAN) far outnumbered red banners (Duarte / PRI). Honest hardworking Jarochos believed PAN would win. But Duarte had the support of former PRI governor Fidel Herrera - an even bigger crook. And don't forget that over 250 ballot boxes sprouted legs and disappeared. The election was rigged. A sham.

      Delete

  13. WE all should be supportive of this blog BB.
    Unbiased stories are posted for us to read,inform and comment on,stop fuckin nitpicking and wearing contributors down?
    This is the downside of anonymous comments.Any prick can whine and complain on some kind of half-arsed moral high ground.Support BB not bitch and whine about bullshit minutiae that is obvious to all?
    Thank you all BB contributors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, 3:27 PM, well said! And, true. The fine work BB gives freely for the public's benefit takes unimaginable courage, dedication and a plethora of skills. This reader couldn't praise BB sufficiently. Gracias and thank you BB! Y pa' los de mas con la criticoneria tan harto--no sean tan disocupados ni tan mal agradecidos.

      Delete
    2. I love you BB . I live right here on the border in the usa and appreciate all that this blog/news site has to offer. Thanks again from the Rio Grande Valley.

      Delete
  14. This is same ever ending story. The only question is, will one day the people of Mexico have enough? Unfortunately the answer is no, it is a way of life for the last 150 years. The only hope is for the United States to go in and take over the country, Then no one will have to head north to be in the United State

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    Replies
    1. As long as mexicans can make $8.25 USD an hour on the US, at least, instead of $5.00 USD a week IN MEXICO, they ain't no donald trump wall high enough to keep us down here in mexico
      --we piss on the donal's wall on the Berlin wall, and on the WALL, it is ON and it is on us, we not 'ffraid to have babies, we will export/import some until the job is done...

      Delete
    2. 7.21
      Baby you are a hater.Your post is full of it just for the sake of it? Did a gringo wipe out someone close to you,have you had a car stolen by a gringo,did one eat your last taco?Where the fuck does your antagonism come from?
      Just out of interest like,an idea?

      Delete
  15. Way to go forum..Some of the little bitches chased '' MIKE7 '' off with their whining accusations? MIKE7 posted some real good info and pictures..We tell people on main board not to whine and complain?

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is MAGUE PENA LUCERO,other dangerous people living now in Mission Texas
    http://valortamaulipeco.blogspot.mx/2015/08/filtran-imagen-el-mague-penade-la-red.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. Meanwhile in the United States,a man mass murders 8 family members including 5 children..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks CNN..And what?
      Murders happen all over the world,, yesssss,even the US?

      Delete
    2. Good god,people?Pathetic..
      Subject matter,topic,story on view,never mind...

      Delete
    3. Don't be fucking stupid, in the US cases get truly investigated, there is a response, whereas in Mexico this case as most will not get resolved, there will be 100% impunity.

      Delete
  18. Duarte es de lo mas HP que hay, pure evil. The official cover up is amateurish, sloppy. Journalists living in fear for their lives don't leave their doors unlocked or party with strangers, these brutal killings weren't carried out randomly. Being a journalist is no different than being an artist or a musician in the sense that whether you have a paying gig or not, does not take away from the fact that you are an artist, a musician, a journalist. The government's legal stance that these victims weren't journalists because they weren't employed at the time of their deaths is cynical. Pray for Justice and then demand it! Take it to the streets! Viva Mexico!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Governor's name is Duarte. It can't be a typo because it's misspelled almost a dozen times.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Transcript of Gov. Duarte deposition yesterday: http://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=25932

    ReplyDelete
  21. 16 to 17 by now, and that is without counting their families and other disappeared that have not been found, plus the ones la marrana parada has not found to "finish the job".
    --the "marrana parada with the ojos de toro loco" professes to be admirer of francisco franco, the spanish dictator who had prince juan carlos de borbon for his "pet monkey" until he died and returned the Spanish crown to him, of course, king juan carlos shot his brother dead to get him out of the way to the crowns...
    Francisco franco was like javier duarte, he loved to GARROTE HIS VICTIMS, by proxy, of course...like javier duarte...of course...

    ReplyDelete
  22. NY Times, 2 August, 2015,
    ... Mr. Espinosa often covered politics in Veracruz, a state in southeast Mexico known to be a hostile place for journalists... Of the seven journalists killed in 2015, four worked in Veracruz. Since 2010, 13 journalists have been killed there in the tenure of Gov. Javier Duarte, of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, according to Article 19, a media rights group. In all, 41 journalists have been killed since 2010.

    To the thousands at Sunday's rally, the killing was a reminder of the violence journalists face here. “I can’t put responsibility for his death on the government directly, but we can hold this government responsible for the climate of harassment and impunity that prevails in Veracruz,” said Jenaro Villamil, an investigative journalist.... Villamil and other journalists said that politicians like Mr. Duarte often said that the killings of journalists had nothing to do with their profession or the stories they covered.

    On Sunday, the chief prosecutor in Mexico City said that Mr. Espinosa had come there in search of work. Friends said he fled Veracruz fearing for his life.

    Denise Dresser, a political analyst at the protest, questioned how the government could keep its support when it was being blamed for rising violence and scandals that have ensnared the president, Enrique Peña Nieto.

    “The best way to keep a country quiet is by killing its journalists,” Ms. Dresser said.

    K-K

    ReplyDelete
  23. Come On BB this is a jokeAugust 12, 2015 at 11:56 PM

    this is ridiculous.
    the hitmen went to the apartment without a get away car?

    and the are physics?

    ruben's trip to the apartment was not preplanned a spur of the moment decision.

    as for the fat man photo, that is absurd since Duarte would have to kill all the reporters because there are hundreds fat photos of him.

    Something huge missing in this post, which is a mexico's voices post, is that Duarte is a puppet gob of zetas. zeta got him elected. bb has a great article or two about that, posted during the zetas trevino trial.

    so what they care about is articles that would disrupt their "business"

    regina's boyfriend or former boyfriend is who is expected as being behind her murder.

    this is not the way to highlight journalists killings in mexico, there are too many legitimate narco or government killings and these fairy tales are disrespectful to those. shame on BB for allowing poorly researched stories to be posted. as for the "activist" she was not important enough for anyone going into state where they have little control and kill her. It just does not happen.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In answering readers asking my opinion:

    11:56 makes valid points. I have not seen anything that says this event stems from a hit on the journalist. as said, Ruben had no previous plans to go to the apartment, so why would the sicarios sit around and wait "just incase"? It doesn't add up/ and I agree these types of speculation are disrespectful to the over 100 journalists killed in Mexico genuinely "in the line of duty".

    that said. Duarte is a scum bag who I have no doubt facilitated deaths of reporters in his states. But yes he is a Zeta puppet so it would be at their direction.
    I just heard last week about Regina's BF suspected of being involved. But I don't know much about that, maybe someone can give more details.

    I agree Durate's background is important an one we have covered here at BB not only during the trial, but the Boca del Rio massacre, read what I wrote about him, and what he warned people posting on social media

    My opinion is there was no crime planned. a conflict between the men and one or more of the women ensued and ended tragically. I think the robbery was a case of "why not?" after the killings. two of the women were raped, I surmise those were the two at the apt who invited them there. two of the bodies showed torture, somebody was enraged. At least one of the women was a call girl, the Colombian. But I don't think Ruben was with her as a client. Saying all this I don't trust anything the government says so I am keeping my eyes and mind opened, but all this reporting is speculation. Not every murder where a reporter is killed is because of his work.

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/05/mexico-killing-of-innocents-by-cartels.html

    and this
    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2014/02/veracruz-worst-place-to-be-journalist.html
    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/08/veracruz-city-and-state-held-hostage.html

    http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/01/by-for-borderland-beat-part-1-two-weeks.html

    there is much more just type in his name and veracruz to access.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hablando de eso: Last night a journalist was killed along with 5 others in a bar in Veracruz. The journalist was hanging out with the Z plaza chief and got killed along with the other Z's!

      http://www.milenio.com/policia/Asesinan_seis_Veracruz_bar-ataque_bar_Veracruz-Veracruz_bar-zetas_Veracruz_Duarte_0_572342817.html

      Delete
  25. clear thinking chivas. this murder was sloppy and had zero similarities to a reporter contracted hit. In Ver Zetas call the shots which reporters are killed. and the new article by Otis is how a take down goes. In a Bar on a street or place of business commandos wait and kill. or they enter a home and kill but half the time take the intended target away to kill and vanish.

    this is how is it done here and never like the df killings. never, never, never. Proceso facts =mentiras

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There were zetas there when Fidel herrera beltran was governor of veracruz, and they were all una bola de hijos de la chingada, but nobody killed journalists like javier duarte, la marrana ojos de toro loco, these murders are more personal and full of hate, and they were announced by the victims, it is not like you want to see a receipt or a thank you card from la marrana to his personal sicarios...
      --It is not only proceso accusing la marrana sin cola, there is many many believers, duarte also knows el DF and criminals there, he was a congressman there for veracruz before...and a "student"...

      Delete
    2. Who killed the Z plaza chief?
      Other Zetas? Settling of accounts or someone else?What's your opinion?

      Delete
  26. "Not every murder where a reporter is killed is because of his, her work"

    Well, that might be true, but in Mexico most of them are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. of course and no one says differently. BUT if corrupt forces can prove it was not related to being a reporter and yet groups rally behind that theory that compromises further killings being accepted as being connected to their work. in the end it is a loss of credibility

      Delete
    2. The EL PRI is full of homos rateros, and they all protect the sisters, they do not care about the credibility, they only care about the power, and with the weapons they have and their well fed gorillas, they can do as they please, until somebody shoves their weapons up their ass...if they can scare their military to kiss their ass, the military have no honor and no huevos, we're getting there...

      Delete
    3. As if the version given by the State deserved any credibility, I could go on forever about how the "robbery" theory does not add up, seems to me that if at least one person received threats by people working for the Veracruz government that an investigation into it would be a no brainer, but well, it is Mexico, and even México City which was until recently considered a safe haven for journalist is no longer that.

      Delete
    4. "Corrupt forces" always hide behind their corrupt versions of "conspiracy theories"
      --We do not need to pursue the smallest possibility that the corrupt mexican governing narco-mierdocracia may be innocent for them, they have all the resources in the world to do that and save their arses...
      --they do not apply the most elemental standard of the "benefit of the doubt" to their victims...
      --on this case the victims even accused them before their deaths, because the victims knew their pursuers very well...
      --there are many good investigators in the world, they know how to use the lie detectors, even in mexico, they use them to pass/fail "accreditable" police officers.

      Delete
    5. Leaving NO living witness IS a sign of a contract killing...
      --For apologizers of the regime, nothing will be a good enough sign of a contract.killing the pursuit of the mighty buck is all that matters, defend la marrana ojos de toro loco like he is your sister or your mom...

      Delete
    6. not in mexico, often the intended kill is killed and witnesses left unharmed, same with invasion of homes a victim is taken or shot but witnesses remain un harmed. witnesses don't trust police, what are they to do?

      Delete
    7. The purpose of the article was not to solve the murders or provide answers to all the questions raised from the killings. I said in the article that there was only circumstantial evidence that Durate or government agents were involved in killing the journalist and activist. But I also said there was enough evidence to question the assertion of the federal city prosecutor, made the day after the bodies were discovered that the motive was robbery.
      If it was simply a robbery, as he asserted, it would be a local crime and investigated by his office. If it was classified as a crime against journalist, it would be a federal crime and presumably investigated by the PGR special section set up to investigate and prosecute crimes against journalist (though that section has not produced any tangible results since it was created in 2012).
      The prosecutor said it could not be a crime against journalist because Ruben and Vera were unemployed at the time of the murders.

      The shots to the back of the head, execution style, in each of the 5 victims would tend to throw doubt on the theory that it was a drunken party that got out of hand and the killings were a crime of passion.

      The assertion that assassins would have had their own get away car and they were captured on video leaving in one of the victim's car does not hold water. They may not have wanted their own vehicle shown on the security tapes, and as soon as they ditched the victims car, returned in a taxi and retrieved their car later in the afternoon.

      As to the assertion that assassins could not have known that Ruben would be in the apartment because he made the decision to go there on the spur of the moment, that might be true unless he was being followed or shadowed in Mx. City as he had been in Veracruz. Ruben himself had told friends that he had been stopped on the street a few days before his death and asked if he was the journalist who had fled Veracruz seeking refuge in the city. His statements in interviews and to friends that he intended shortly to return to Veracruz to lead the student movements seeking justice for the all the murdered journalist could have been the prompt that caused someone to issue the order to whack him.

      An investigation of the murders that starts with the premise that they were the result of a robbery or a drunken party is not going to quiet the furor that has resulted from their deaths. Especially in the context of the suspected corruption of the Durate administration and the classification by Reporters Without Borders of Veracruz as the most dangerous city in the world for journalist.

      This article was intended to join the voices calling for a full investigation (for all the good that would do) and not an investigation of robbery/murder.

      I know that I would not want to be classified as an enemy of the state or put on the "blacklist" of the government of Veracruz.

      Delete

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