La Opinión
May 25, 2009, in Gómez Palacio, Mexico
At around 8 p.m., at least eight hooded gunmen entered the
house where Barrón, a reporter and photographer for the Torreón-based
daily La Opinión, lived
with his wife and two young daughters, according to news reports and CPJ
interviews. The assailants beat the reporter and forced him out of the house
and into a white Nissan Tsuru that was parked outside, his wife told local
reporters. He was not heard from again. Authorities found Barrón’s body the next day in the city
of Barrón, 35, had covered the police beat for 10 years
for La Opinión, a paper based in
neighboring Coahuila state, according to the national daily El Universal. In the days prior to his
kidnapping, he had covered a corruption scandal in the Torreón police force that
had resulted in the firing of more than 300 police officers, Milenio reported. Federal authorities immediately took over the case, Milenio reported. On May 27,
the day of Barrón’s funeral, unidentified individuals hung five posters
threatening journalists and soldiers in Torreón, the Mexican press reported.
The messages, which were allegedly signed by the leader of the Sinaloa drug
cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, said: “We are here, journalists, ask Eliseo
Barrón. El Chapo and the cartel do not forgive, be careful, soldiers and
journalists.” One of the posters was hung outside a TV station, and another
outside a radio station, the local press reported. On June 12, the Mexican army reportedly detained five
suspects at a routine road block. In a statement, the federal Attorney
General’s office said that one suspect, Israel Sánchez Jaimes, confessed to
kidnapping and shooting the journalist. Sánchez said Lucio Fernández, also
known as “Lucifer,” the Durango head of the Gulf cartel’s enforcement arm, Los
Zetas, had ordered Barrón’s killing “in order to teach a lesson to other local
journalists so that they wouldn’t meddle in the work of the delinquent group,”
according to the Attorney General’s office.
Medium: Print
Job: Photographer, Print Reporter
Beats Covered: Crime
Gender: Male
Local or Foreign: Local
Freelance: No
Type of Death: Murder
Suspected Source of Fire: Criminal Group
Impunity: Yes
Taken Captive: Yes
Tortured: Yes
Threatened: No
