![\"The](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/9A48\/production\/_96069493_73c3f4a3-5180-476c-941a-4e407519c032.jpg\")
<\/span><\/figure>\nValdez was shot dead on the street near the premises of the Mexican news weekly he had founded, R\u00edodoce.<\/p>\n
During his career spanning nearly three decades, Valdez wrote extensively on drug-trafficking and organised crime in Mexico, including the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.<\/p>\n
The cartel is believed to be responsible for an estimated 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico.<\/p>\n
Its founder Joaquin Guzman, also known as “El Chapo” (Shorty), was captured in 2014 and is currently in jail awaiting trial in the US.<\/p>\n
Mexico’s President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto condemned the killing, calling it an “outrageous crime”, and added that his government remained committed to press freedom.<\/p>\n Sinaloa state attorney general Juan Jose Rios said they were investigating the death, and would protect Valdez’s family and colleagues.<\/p>\n “Above all else we are interested in Javier’s family,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n The CPJ’s Mexico representative Jan-Albert Hootsen said Valdez’s killing was “an attack on journalism, all journalists throughout Mexico”.<\/p>\n Valdez and his publication had been threatened before.<\/p>\n He told the freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship last month that a hand grenade had been thrown into R\u00edodoce’s offices in 2009, “although it only caused material damages”.<\/p>\n “I’ve had phone calls telling me to stop investigating certain murders or drug bosses. I’ve had to suppress important information because they could have my family killed if I mention it.<\/p>\n “Sources of mine have been killed or disappeared\u2026 The government couldn’t care less. They do nothing to protect you. There have been many cases and this keeps happening.”<\/p>\n Speaking at a launch of his book last year, he said being a journalist “is like being on a blacklist” and that gangs “will decide what day they are going to kill you”.<\/p>\n In March, after journalist Miroslava Breach was shot dead, Valdez was quoted as saying “No to silence” and “Let them kill us all”.<\/p>\n Like Valdez, Breach had reported on organised crime, drug-trafficking and corruption.<\/p>\n Other Mexican journalists killed this year include freelancers Maximino Rodr\u00edguez and Cecilio Pineda Birto, according to the CPJ.<\/p>\n The CPJ says at least 40 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, has been shot dead. Unidentified attackers opened fire on him on Monday in Culiacan city in the north-western state of Sinaloa, where he lived and worked. Valdez, 50, received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[7162,493],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Tweet](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/13688\/production\/_96069497_4fcb575c-e43d-45c8-86fe-7ac9d2c6e6b5.jpg\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n![\"map\"](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/7004\/production\/_96067682_mexicosinaloa4640517.png\")
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