Thread by @ElParece

[THREAD] This is Carlos Dominguez Rodriguez, 77, a freelance journalist in Nuevo Laredo who was stabbed to death in front of family members on 13 January 2018. What happened after is somehow even worse. cpj.org/data/people/ca…

It is worth mentioning that the fatal attack was carried out with knives rather than a firearm, thus guaranteeing that the crime would be investigated exclusively by authorities within the state. If he had been shot, the federal authorities would have gotten involved.

After the assassination, according to to testimony from Carlos's daughter-in-law, Carlos was supposedly killed in retaliation for speaking out against Carlos Cantúrosas, the former mayor of Nuevo Laredo. elfinanciero.com.mx/nacional/nuera…

Cantúrosas is a former ally and friend of the man who is now governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca. Here they are holding hands.

That friendship has since ended when Cantúrosas expressed interest in running for mayor of Nuevo Laredo on the Morena party ticket, a party politically opposed to the PAN governor's own political party. There may be more to it than that, but for now we'll stick to this.

After the murder of Carlos Dominguez, two former federal police, David Mejía Bravo and Adrian Montes Fernández confessed to their involvement as the material authors of the murder. Here are their mugshots ("N" is used in place of their last names to anonymize the subjects).

In their initial version of the events surrounding the murder, they claimed they were also accompanied by three journalists: (from left to right in the first picture) Gabriel Garza, Jesús Zuñiga, and Luis Valtierra, as well as Cantúrosas' nephew, Rodolfo Cantú García (right)

The plot, according to them, was supposedly orchestrated on behalf of Cantúrosas in retaliation for Dominguez's work alleged to be critical of Cantúrosas. All 6 subjects were taken into custody.

As is unfortunately common in Tamaulipas, the journalists (and probably the others, as well) that were initially implicated in the plot were tortured by the police during their confinement. Gabriel Garza ultimately died while in custody in April of 2018. google.com/amp/s/www.elso…

But the story doesn't end there. The murder of a journalist brought with it a strong response from officials, including an offer from the State Attorney General, Irving Barrios Mójica, for a reward of $2 million for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

Ultimately, this reward money was given to the Director of Operation of Criminal Procedure for the Attorney General's office, Natanael Castelán Iturria.

It was subsequently revealed by David Mejía, who initially had confessed to the murder, that Castelán Iturria had promised him $500,000 if he confessed while implicating the others, and had said that he would be released 6 days later, which was a lie. David Mejía then recanted.

Here are two articles detailing the plot which was uncovered:

infobae.com/america/mexico…

jornada.com.mx/ultimas/estado…

Ultimately, the others who had survived being in custody were acquitted and released. It appears that the whole plot, which had been assisted by numerous state officials, was a smear campaign orchestrated by the political enemies of Carlos Cantúrosas.

Last weekend, several officials, including Natanael Castelán Iturria, submitted letters of resignation to the State Attorney General, Irving Barrios Mójica.
milenio.com/politica/comun…

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