Mexico is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to operate, beating out Iraq, Afghanistan and other dangerous parts of the world according to the International Press Institute.
Earlier this week citizen journalist Maria Del Rosario was kidnapped, tortured and killed. She had been working anonymously in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico to expose cartel activity. Thursday morning her social media account was taken over by her killers who announced her death and sent tweets warning other citizen journalists to back off on cartel reporting. Ildefonso Ortiz has the story:
Social media postings on Thursday morning mourned the passing of Maria Del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, a Reynosa doctor better known by her Twitter handle @Miut3.
Law enforcement sources in Tamaulipas, Mexico confirmed her kidnapping Wednesday afternoon and found her body overnight. Due to the early stages of her investigation authorities didn’t release details of the murder. Officials who spoke with Breitbart Texas said they are not only looking at social media but also at her work as a doctor and acquaintances before determining the motive for the murder.
On Thursday early morning the twitter handle @miut3 posted a farewell message identifying Fuentes by name, posting her picture and telling the community to remain quiet about Reynosa and not make her mistakes “you won’t get anything out of it” as well as warning other citizen journalists that criminals were on to them. The profile image of @Miut3 was changed from the Catwoman photo she always used to a photograph of Fuentes’ bloodied body.
While the world pays attention to the Middle East, as it should, the United States shouldn't ignore the increasing violence along the border with neighboring Mexico.
