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Mexican journalist Antonio de la Cruz's daughter, Cinthya de la Cruz Martínez, passed away from gunshot wounds on Friday. Her father, who had worked for local newspaper Expreso for three decades, was mercilessly killed on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
He is the 12th journalist to be assassinated in Mexico in 2022 alone, a list that keeps growing longer with every passing day.
Antonio de la Cruz was shot and killed in front of his house while he was sitting in his car with his family. His 23-year-old daughter Cinthya, who was also present at the scene, sustained injuries to her head. She was admitted to a local hospital in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, where she succumbed to her injuries two days later.
According to Expreso, Cinthya was buried next to her father on Sunday.
Antonio de la Cruz and the fate of journalists in an increasingly hostile Mexico
Mexico is one of the deadliest countries in the world for journalists in 2022, and freedom of speech is a dangerous thing to want in a country riddled with corruption and violence due to organized crime. Shot in front of his house in the capital city of Tamaulipas, Ciudad Victoria, Cruz is one of the many crime journalists who have been murdered recently for reporting on unfettered criminal activities taking place in Mexico.
Expreso, where Cruz was a journalist covering various rural and social topics, has a strained history with the criminal organizations of the country. In the past, there have been reports of a car bomb explosion in front of the newspaper building, and in 2018, the newspaper received a cooler that had a human head inside it and a warning not to report on the crime happening in the city.
Located in the northern part of Mexico and sharing a border with the United States of America, Tamaulipas acts as the base for violent drug cartels. Antonio de la Cruz was well aware of the condition of his city, as well as the corruption that was rampant among government officials.
Further developments in the Antonio de la Cruz case
The journalist's brutal murder has been condemned by the Movimiento Ciudadano political party and its local deputy, Gustavo Cardenas Gutiérrez. An investigation into the "cowardly crime" was promised by the governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca.
The president of the National Press Club and the president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute released a statement on the murder of Antonio de la Cruz:
"Those who murder journalists must be arrested, prosecuted and punished. Because cases of violence against Mexican journalists are almost never solved, the state is sending a very bad message to the gangs and cartels who carry out these atrocities."
An investigation will be opened by the specialized unit of the state prosecutor's office for investigating crimes against freedom of expression.
