Two journalists killed in DF, femicide suspected

Journalists Yarce (left) and González (right) were found murdered on September 1. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

09/03/11 – On Thursday, September 1, the State Attorney General’s Office of the Federal District (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal, PGJDF) announced the discovery of the bodies of two Mexican female journalists who are thought to have been murdered the night before on August 31. The journalists have been identified as Marcela Yarce Viveros and Rocío González Trápaga, both in their mid-forties. Two joggers found the bodies in El Mirador Park in Ixtapalapa, a neighborhood in Mexico City. The PGJDF reported that the women were strangled to death with rope and then shot afterwards. Although their bodies were found naked, authorities have not stated if sexual assault or rape were involved.

Violence against journalists continues to be a seriously growing problem in Mexico. Mexico’s Human Rights Commission (Comision Nacional de Derechos Humanos, CNDH) reported eight journalists, ten including Yarce and González, have been killed in Mexico in 2011 alone. CNDH announced that it has opened its own investigations into Thursday’s killings, adding that “the aggression, threats, intimidation and persecution that media workers suffer inhibit and limit free speech,” as printed by the Associated Press.

Not only have Yarce’s and González’s murders captured the attention of many because they were journalists, but also because both were female, which has led authorities to believe this was an incidence of femicide, or targeted killing of females based on gender alone. If authorities ultimately classify these homicides as femicides, anyone charged in relation to their deaths could face up to 60 years in prison for each victim. To date, no motives have been confirmed nor suspects apprehended, although fingerprints were allegedly pulled from Yarce’s and González’s bodies. Both the PGJDF and CNDH investigations are ongoing.

To read more about the recent legislation that passed in the DF regarding punishment for crimes of femicide, click here.

Sources:

Associated Press. “Mexican journalists found dead in Mexico City.” Guardian.co.uk. September 2, 2011.

Notimex. “Tipifican crimen a periodistas como feminicidio.” Aztecas Noticias. September 2, 2011.

Redacción. “AI México condena asesinato de dos periodistas.” El Universal. September 2, 2011.

Stevenson, Mark. “Gender crime seen in 2 Mexican journalists’ deaths.” Associated Press. September 2, 2011.