Roberto Javier Mora García

Roberto Javier Mora García (c. 1962 – 16 March 2004) was a Mexican journalist and editorial director of El Mañana, a newspaper based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He worked for a number of media outlets in Mexico, including the El Norte and El Diario de Monterrey, prior to his assassination.

Roberto Javier Mora García
Bornc. 1962
Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
Died19 March 2004 (aged 42)
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Cause of deathStabbing
Alma materMonterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education
OccupationEl Mañana editorial director

While on his way home from work, Mora García was stabbed to death 26 times. Two men were eventually arrested and charged with the killing, but a number of independent organizations have complained on the irregularities and coverups in the investigation. They believe that Mora García was killed for his extensive coverage on the Mexican drug cartels, political corruption, and organized crime, but the motive of his assassination is still unsolved.

Early life and career

Mora García was born in the Mexican city of Saltillo, Coahuila. He studied at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) under a scholarship for academic excellence until he graduated in 1983. At the age of 22, he began his career as a news reporter, and he later went on to work as an editor for El Norte daily newspaper and as the director of El Diario de Monterrey (now known as Milenio).[1][2]

In 2000, Mora García began to work for El Mañana, a Spanish-language newspaper from the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, where he later became the director. He also wrote for Biznews, a distribution magazine based in northern Mexico and in the Rio Grande Valley, and for the North Mexico Business, a local weekly economics newspaper.[1][3]

His work encompassed a serious coverage of the Mexican authorities relationship with the Gulf Cartel, a drug cartel based in Tamaulipas. Many of the articles he wrote talked about law enforcement involvement in drug trafficking, and the role former policemen had with Los Zetas in the extortion business. He was also a harsh critic of the former governor Tomás Yarrington and of the Tamaulipas attorney general Francisco Cayuela Villarreal.[4][5] In El Mañana, Mora García criticized the local government for reportedly altering the homicide rate statistics in Nuevo Laredo; he argued that the authorities claimed some homicide victims had either committed suicide or died of a disease. When writing on the local drug trade, Mora García referred to drug traffickers by their real names.[6]

Assassination

As Mora García (aged 42) was coming back from work before dawn on 19 March 2004, an assassin stabbed him 26 times until he died outside his home at the Colonia Jardín neighborhood in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.[7][8][9] He was stabbed 13 times in the back and 13 times in the chest with a double-edge knife (which struck his lungs and heart).[10] His corpse was found by the police officers Bernardino Cruz Catarina and Guadalupe Herver 15 meters (49 feet) away from his vehicle, which had the door open and the keys in the ignition.[3][5]

On March 28, the Mexican police arrested two men, and accused them of assassinating Mora García, their neighbor. Both men confessed to having killed the journalist, but later stated that they had been tortured by the police to admit their culpability.[11][12] Later on inside a prison on May 13, the American citizen Medina Vázquez was stabbed 88 times and killed, prompting questions and raising doubts from several journalists and free press organizations on a supposed cover up for the assassination of Mora Garcia as a "crime of passion" in order to hide the real motives behind it.[11][12][13] Six independent organizations that investigated the crime concluded that there were many irregularities and coverups in the investigation.[4][7][14] The former Attorney General of the state of Tamaulipas, Francisco Cayuela Villarreal, then resigned after an accusation of being an accomplice.[11]

Mora García wrote extensively on the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization, and its ties with the local government.[15] The motives behind the assassination of Mora García still remain unsolved, but neither the Mexican authorities nor investigators have discarded the possibility that the attack was work-related and driven by his coverage on drug trafficking, police corruption, government-drug cartel collusion, and impunity.[16][17][18][19]

See also

References
  1. "Aún hay muchas dudas y pocas respuestas". El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo) (in Spanish). 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  2. Granados Chapa, Miguel Ángel (8 February 2006). "El Mañana en el blanco". El Siglo de Durango (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  3. "Periodista asesinado en Nuevo Laredo". International Freedom of Expression Exchange (in Spanish). 22 March 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  4. "Sentencian a presunto asesino de periodista mexicano". Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (in Spanish). 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  5. "Joint mission investigates Mora García's death". Reporters Without Borders. 4 May 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  6. "A dos años del crimen, aún sin esclarecer el caso Roberto Mora". Proceso (in Spanish). 23 March 2006. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  7. "Murder of newspaper director Robert Mora García remains unpunished five years after the crime". International Freedom of Expression Exchange. 24 March 2009. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  8. Ballí, Cecilia (July 2004). "The Framing of Mario Medina?". Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  9. Carter, Sara A. (28 December 2006). "Mexican journalists caught in the crossfire of city's drug-cartel wars". The San Bernardino Sun. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  10. (subscription required) Ramos, Mirna (20 March 2004). "Matan a director de El Manana de Nuevo Laredo". El Norte (Monterrey) (in Spanish). ProQuest 315774885.
  11. Villamill, Jenaro (24 May 2004). "Doble crimen revela homofobia y abusos a la libertad de expresión en Tamaulipas". La Jornada (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  12. "Roberto Javier Mora García". New York City: Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  13. Álvarez, Silvia (19 March 2008). "La herida permanece abierta". El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  14. "Manipulan pruebas en caso Mora: CNDH". El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo) (in Spanish). Editora Argos S.A. de C.V. 8 June 2008. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  15. Flores Martinez, Balbina (June 2005). "Autoridad, impunidad y autocensura: Mexico, las duras condiciones de los periodistas fronterizos" (PDF). Reporteros Sin Fronteras (in Spanish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  16. González Rodríguez, Sauro (24 February 2006). "Dread on the Border". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  17. "CPJ asks for information about journalist's murder". New York City: Committee to Protect Journalists. 25 March 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  18. Villamil, Jenaro (31 May 2004). "Construyen un "crimen pasional" para ocultar posibles nexos de autoridades con narcos". La Jornada (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  19. "Mexican man sentenced to 16 years for journalist's murder". Committee to Protect Journalists. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012.

Bibliography
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