Mexican journalists murdered in attack on freedom of press

Only weeks before he was murdered, Mexican photojournalist Ruben Espinosa spoke out about fearing for his life.

It was a chilling premonition. 

On July 31st, Espinosa was found dead ... murdered along with four others in Mexico City, a place once known as a safe haven for reporters. Espinosa's death is the latest in a disturbing trend of murdered or missing journalists in Mexico.  

Last week a group of 500 prominent journalists, writers, and artists, including Margaret Atwood and Noam Chomsky - signed a letter demanding a full investigation of the killings... and calling for better protection of journalists state wide. 
 

"Ruben covered the government in the state capital, Xalapa and all the protests from around the state of Veracruz that would take place there - protests from peasant farmers, coffee growers, students, teachers. He basically gave a voice to all those groups that were complaining about the situation in Veracruz."- Feliz Marquez, friend and colleague of Ruben Espinosa

On Friday we spoke with Felix Marquez - a photojournalist based in Veracruz, Mexico. He was a friend and colleague of Ruben Espinosa.

We requested a statement about Ruben Espinosa from the Mexican Embassy. They said they would try to send us one, but we haven't received it yet.

Carlos Lauria is the America's senior program co-ordinator for The Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that has monitored press freedom and security in Mexico for many years. According to the CPJ, the murder of Mexican reporters rarely leads to prosecutions. Carlos Lauria joined us from New York.

To help us understand what the killing of journalists says about the state of democracy in Mexico, we were joined by Sofia Rada. She is a research associate with the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, DC. 

This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal, Ines Colabrese and Leif Zapf-Gilje.