50 Nevith Condés Jaramillo – Marco Suazo
Author: Marco Suazo, Pima Community College
In 2020, Mexico was the most dangerous country for journalists because Mexico had the highest death rate and most of them were murders. It is the result of corruption inside the system, authorities are influenced by criminal organizations which leads to the authorities covering up their crimes and even committing the crimes themselves. On August 24, 2019, in Tejupilco de Hidalgo, the State of Mexico the body of Nevith Condés Jaramillo was found on a hill stabbed to death(”CPJ”). Nevith Condés Jaramillo was a journalist that always looked for the truth, even if it was about government corruption. Jaramillo was the founder and director of a website that covered news “El Observatorio del Sur”, he also posted the news on his youtube channel and Facebook, both titled “El Observatorio del Sur” (“CPJ”).
A journalist named Marie Carmen Aguilar Franco was interviewed and a friend of Nevith Condés Jaramillo, both were born and grew up in the small town of Tejupilco (Silenciadas.) Since they were young Jaramillo would talk about the injustice in the world that he wanted to change (Silenciadas.) Nevith Condés Jaramillo was a journalist in Mexico so he ran into trouble with the cartel, Facebook messages show “El Fresa” threatening Jaramillo to calm down with Anthony and stop posting (Articulo 19.) “El Fresa” was a cartel leader in Tejupilco where Jaramillo grew up and lived so he knew who he was and decided to meet up with him to fix things, he told Jaramillo that they really liked his journalism work but to not do any journalism over the cartel (Silenciadas.) Jaramillo was invited to be in federal protection in 2018 and 2019 but he declined their offer (Sandra San Juan.)
In the interview, Nevith Condés Jaramillo talked with the locals that stated 2 people were was a helicopter that was going to a hospital but was shoot down by cops (El Observatorio del Sur.) The locals ask the cops, “Who are we supposed to be scared of? You?” and the cops didn’t answer (El Observatorio del Sur.) The pilot of the helicopter died but the other two were still alive and allegedly the cops started shooting at the crowd after shooting down the helicopter (Silenciadas). The cops reported that two cartels were shooting at each other but in reality, it seemed like the cops were randomly shooting at innocent civilians (Silenciadas.) To this day, no one has been arrested nor found guilty of the helicopter shooting.
Nevith Condés Jaramillo was found stabbed to death in Tejupilco 2 months after the helicopter crash (“CPJ”) . He was tortured and they made his phone disappear (Hernandez.) Marie Carmen Aguilar Franco and another close friend of Jaramillo said that they are 100% sure that the cartel didn’t kill him because they already fixed their issue, additionally, they liked his work (Silenciadas.) Jaramillo also didn’t touch cartel topics because he was already threatened once so the locals also think it was not the cartel (Silenciadas.) It was hard to get the local authorities to investigate, they didn’t advance at all and haven’t solved the murder (Hernandez.)
Nevith Condés Jaramillo was looking for the truth, unfortunately, the truth is what ended up getting him killed. I believe that he caught the police shooting down the helicopter and the cops got really mad and killed him 2 months later. That hurts all of Mexico because it silences the people, the good people. They will be too scared to speak out like journalists did and the government will control what people can and cannot say and the news will also be censored. Journalists don’t always get killed, some are in prison because of what they say, it’s a problem all over the world.
Works Cited
“Asesinato de Nevith Condes Eleva Urgencia de Atender la Creciente Violencia Contra la Prensa” Articulo 19. 26 August 2019. https://articulo19.org/asesinato-de-nevith-condes-eleva-urgencia-de-atender-la-creciente-violencia-contra-la-prensa/
El Observatorio del Sur, Journalist Interview. 18 June 2019. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2256330571109692
Hernandez Lopez, Rogelio. “Un ano sin Nevith, el Periodista Guache. A Quien Temen los Fiscales?” Conexion Noticias, CNX Noticias. 17 August 2020. https://cnxnoticias.mx/archivos/7275
“Nevith Condés Jaramillo” Committee to Protect Journalists, 24 August 2019. https://cpj.org/data/people/nevith-condes-jaramillo/
Sandra San Juan, Sofia. “Asesina al Periodista Nevith Condés Jaramillo en Tejupilco, Edomex. ” El Sol de Mexico, 24 August 2019. https://www.elsoldemexico.com.mx/mexico/sociedad/asesinan-al-periodista-nevith-condes-jaramillo-en-tejupilco-edomex-4084954.html
Silenciadas, Voces. “Un Helicoptero en Rincon de Cristo” . March 9. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0n7HopVg6e6tNIqtWBW0UM?si=GljuoSNjQ9egPFSHY8JqKA&nd=1