Victor Alfonso Culebro Morales

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The body of Víctor Alfonso Culebro Morales, the 39-year-old founder and editor of the Facebook-based news site Realidades, was found on the side of a highway in the municipality of Jiquilipas, in southern Chiapas state, on June 28, 2024, according to the state prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation. 

El Universal newspaper reported that Morales’ hands were tied and his face was taped, while La Silla Rota news site said that he had been shot. Neither named their sources.

According to a profile of Morales by Proceso, a Mexico City-based investigative monthly, he was born in San Cristobal de las Casas and lived with his wife and two children in the town of Cintalapa at the time of his death.

He was the son of Mario Carlos Culebro Velasco, a former mayor of the town of Socoltenango in Chiapas and later a federal deputy and state secretary under then-Gov. Manuel Velasco Coello.

The Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, which coordinates protection for reporters at risk, was not aware of any threats against Morales, one of its officials told CPJ on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to comment publicly.

June 26 report on Realidades said that the deployment of thousands of soldiers and police officers to Chiapas had failed to stem violence related to turf wars between criminal gangs.

No information has been made public on possible suspects as of January 2025. Several calls by CPJ for comment to the Chiapas state prosecutor’s office between June 2024 and January 2025 went unanswered.