CFWIJ remembering Anabel Flores Salazar who was murdered in Mexico

Anabel Flores Salazar was a reporter for the local newspaper El Sol de Orizaba and a contributor to two other local news outlets, El Buen Tono and El Mundo de Orizaba.

On February 8th 2017, she was abducted from her home in the city of Orizaba, in the state of Veracruz. Her abduction was not widely reported and only came to light two days later when was found dead in the neighbouring state of Puebla on 9 February.

We at the Coalition For Women In Journalism, take this time to remember Anabel Flores Salazar and invite you to honor her memory.

Anabel was indeed a courageous journalist who covered the crime and justice beat for Veracruz newspaper El Sol de Orizaba, but her placement automatically brought a threatening field of reporting for her. One of her last stories had been about a store owner who had been shot dead.

She also reported on murders and car accidents. In her reports, Salazar investigated local crimes such as vehicle accidents and police duties. She often wrote about murders and specifically the murders of young females in her region.

Veracruz is one of the most dangerous regions. Out of 11 journalists killed in direct retaliation for their work in Mexico since 2011, 6 were either killed in Veracruz or had reported in the state, during the same time period, 3 other journalists have gone missing in the state.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism CFWIJ finds the ongoing murders and attacks targeting journalists in Mexico without any means of follow up or punishment, alarming.

Crime does not only involve unsolved murders of women journalists in Mexico, but bullying, death threats and online harassment have been growing in the past months according to our Data.

CFWIJ doubts that these cases are not being tackled closely due to political impunity. The failure or inability to penalize criminals in Mexico has been a widespread phenomenon.