Eliseo Barrón Hernández

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 Gómez Palacio, Durango, where he lived, reported the national daily Milenio. The Durango state deputy attorney general, Noel Díaz, told reporters that Barrón's body was found in an irrigation ditch, according to The Associated Press. He had been tortured and shot at least 11 times, local news reports said.

Barrón, 35, had covered the police beat during 10 years for La Opinión, which is based out of neighboring Coahuila state, according to the national daily El Universal. In the days prior to his kidnapping, the journalist had covered a corruption scandal in the Torreón police that had resulted in the firing of 302 police officers and the investigation of at least 20 others, Milenio reported.

Federal authorities immediately took over the case, Milenio reported. La Opinión belongs to the Milenio media group.

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.

The federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) put out an ad in several national dailies on May 28 announcing a 5 million Mexican pesos (US$380,000) reward for any information on Barrón's murder.

On June 12, the Mexican army reportedly detained five suspects at a routine road block in connection to Barrón's murder. According to a statement issued the same day by the PGR, one of the suspects, Israel Sánchez Jaimes, confessed to kidnapping and shooting the journalist. Sánchez said Lucio Fernández, aka "Lucifer," the Durango head of the Gulf cartel's enforcement arm, Los Zetas, 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 PGR.

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