On 23rd March 2017 human rights defender and journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea was brutally killed by two assailants while she was accompanying her son to school in her home town Chinipas in Chihuahua state.

Early on the morning of the 23rd, at around 7:30 am, while Miroslava was getting into her car with her son, two armed persons in a grey Malibu Chevrolet car approached her suddenly and shot her eight times before disappearing. She died instantly and her son son was wounded.

Miroslava Breach Velducea had reported extensively on political corruption and links between local politicians and organised crime. In her article “Asserting organized crime candidates for elected office in Chihuahua,” published on March 4, 2016, Breach reported that several candidates for mayor in that region were part of criminal groups. According to Miroslava’s brothers « We know that there is a link between political power and crime, which was exposed by Miroslava, and that was what led to her murder. That is why we hope that those who are part of this group will answer for this crime.”

During the recent oral hearing of the accused mastermind of the murder of Miroslava Breach Velducea, audio was presented allegedly linking two members of the National Action Party (PAN, for is acronym in Spanish) with the March 23, 2017 murder of the correspondent from La Jornada. After Syria, Mexico is the world’s most dangerous country for journalists, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) watchdog.

Breach was the correspondent of the Mexico City daily newspaper La Jornada. Also, she was working in collaboration with the newspaper El Norte de Chihuahua. In addition she was the editorial director of the newspaper El Norte de Ciudad Juárez.