Deceased Mexican news commentator Candida Cristal Vázquez. Photo: Twitter

PULSE NEWS MEXICO

The lifeless body of Sinaloa broadcast commentator Cándida Cristal Vázquez, 34, was found on Saturday, Aug. 27, in that Mexican state’s coast resort of Mazatlán in a ditch on the outskirts of town.

According to police reports, Vázquez’s body showed signs of torture and violence.

She was the 16th journalist killed in Mexico so far this year, of violence in a channel in the El Cid subdivision of Mazatlán.

A former director of social communication for the Mazatlán Municipal Police, Vázquez had disappeared on July 21, according to reports from her relatives who identified her body late Saturday night.

The remains of Vázquez, who was colloquially known as “La Chulis” (“The Cutie”) by her fans and followers, was found inside a trash bag with her hands and feet tied to stones and a rope around her neck.

She worked as a local reporter and radio host-

In May of this year, the body of another Sinaloa reporter and columnist, Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos of Culiacán newspaper El Debate, was also discovered in the state.

Mexico has one of the highest murder rates of journalists worldwide, second only to Ukraine, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In Mexico, 331 journalists were violently attacked during the first half of 2022, representing a physical assault on a reporter every 14 hours.

In Mexico, according to the media watch group Artículo 19, 331 journalists were violently attacked during the first half of 2022, representing a physical assault on a reporter every 14 hours.

Making matters worse, in almost all attacks on journalists in Mexico, the perpetrators are not prosecuted.

Also, the leftist government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has not taken the matter seriously, and has earned international condemnation for his constant callous verbal assaults on journalists, which critics have said open the door for violence against media representatives.