Mexican photojournalist Ruben Espinosa was shot and killed on Saturday morning. After much outcry and anger at the government, Distrito Federal’s mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera promised that the person responsible would be punished. Two days later, one man has been arrested in connection to the death of Espinosa and four women. His name wasn’t made public yet, but he was linked to the crime by fingerprints found at the scene. Two others that were supposedly also at the scene have yet to be caught, The Guardian reports. Milenio said that the man is 42, and that he admitted to being in the apartment but not to firing off the gun.
Though details about the crime have been released, there are still a lot of questions about why he was killed. On social media, the conversation has been focused on his work as a journalist, a dangerous job in Veracruz. Statistics – like the fact that 41 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2010 – have been used to support the theory that he was targeted because of his job. Some Twitter users even called the Veracruz governor, Javier Duarte, a murderer. On the other hand, old media has reported the crime as a drug-related one, pinning it on the Colombian woman who was also killed, Americas Quarterly reports.
Nadia Vera, one of the women who was killed, filmed a video eight months before her death where she said that if anything ever happened to her, Governor Duarte should be held responsible.
Photo: Francisco Canedo