Mica for Borderland Beat material from Zeta
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| Israel Alejandro Vazquez Vazquez "El 50", was upset his photo appeared in Zeta |
In 1988, Zeta co-founder Héctor Félix Miranda was killed. Co-founder Jesús Blancornelas survived a 1997 assassination attempt in which a bodyguard was killed. In 2004, editor Francisco Javier Ortiz was murdered…….
Mexican police told the staff of the Tijuana news weekly "Zeta" that a cartel member had ordered the paper's office be shot up in retaliation for publishing photographs of wanted drug cartel members on its front page.
Zeta printed the photos of 10 wanted men on Friday. The paper, which has seen several staffers murdered by cartels, reported the threatened attack on Monday.
The threat came from one of the eight members of the Cartel Jalisco New Generation that appeared on the cover of ZETA, in alliance with the Arellano Felix Cartel, waging war against the Sinaloa Cartel who have hijacked this northern border by their criminal actions.
Basically the researchers explained that one of the most sought, identified by authorities as Israel Alejandro Vazquez Vazquez "El 50", was upset because his face and the other members of his criminal group had been provided to ZETA Investigations by authorities, and was published in the weekly magazine.
He ordered a criminal cell to attack the newspaper offices (while empty) as a warning. Researchers in contact with the co-directors, and verified the threat with other law enforcement agencies, detailed: Plans were set for early Sunday November 27 when there were no employees, but did not have the weapons or enforcers in time for criminal action. The action had to be postponed
“Those of us who work at Zeta maintain our commitment to investigative journalism that is controversial and denounces those people from the government, those institutions or criminal groups who seek to maintain impunity to attack the society in which we work," Zeta said.
Zeta has been targeted by both cartels and the government, with co-director Adela Navarro Bello (at left above) reporting earlier in November that she had received information about a smear campaign against her that was planned by government officials.