Veteran journalist Carlos Domínguez, 77, was killed by unknown assailants while driving through the northern city of Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas State, which borders Texas, with several relatives who were unharmed. He was stabbed 21 times.
Domínguez was a columnist for news websites Noreste Digital and Horizonte de Matamoros, who wrote pointed critiques of local politicians, many of which have since been taken offline. He also covered national and local politics as a freelancer and was previously a staff reporter for the newspaper El Diario de Nuevo Laredo, his son, also called Carlos Domínguez, told CPJ.
Tamaulipas State attorney general Irving Barrios and another person familiar with the case, who CPJ has not named for security reasons, said state authorities were not aware of any threats to the journalist’s life.
On March 28, 2018, Barrios told a news conference that state authorities arrested six suspects and that Domínguez’s death was related to his journalism. Two suspects, David Mejía Bravo and Adrián Montes, were alleged to have blocked Domínguez’s car, forced him out, and stabbed him. The other four were alleged to have planned the attack, according to news reports. Gabriel García Flores, Luis Ignacio Valtierra Hernández, and Juan Jesús González Zuñiga were identified as journalists.
The sixth suspect, Rodolfo Jorge Alfredo Cantú García was the nephew of Carlos Cantú Rosas Villareal, who served as mayor of Nuevo Laredo from 2013 to 2016.
In his columns, including one less than a month before his death, Domínguez had accused Carlos Cantú of corruption and links to organized crime.
CPJ was unable to obtain the contact information for Carlos Cantú, the suspects, or their lawyers to request comment.
In April 2019, Gabriel García died in prison.
On October 26, 2019, the five remaining suspects were acquitted due to a lack of evidence.