José Armando Rodríguez Carreón, Mexico
José Armando Rodríguez Carreón was a crime reporter for the local daily newspaper El Diario, based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua state. He was shot at least eight times by an unidentified person as he was about to drive his daughter to school on the morning of November 13, 2008. Rodríguez died at the scene. His daughter, who was also in the car at the time, was uninjured. An investigation was begun, with Rodríguez' journalism as a possible motive.

Previous threats:
Rodríguez (40), who had more than 10 years of experience of reporting on crime, in particular murders, had in the year prior to his killing been the target of several death threats warning him to curb his reporting. At that time he was covering drug-related violence and organized crime in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua state. Following these threats, Rodríguez temporarily left Mexico for the United States but refused to stop covering crime stories despite further death threats.

The Mexican media reported that Rodríguez refused protective measures offered by state authorities after his return from the United States. However, other reports indicate that he asked for protection from the attorney general's office but was denied. Rodríguez told the Committee to Protect Journalists: "The risks here are high and rising, and journalists are easy targets. But I can't live in my house like a prisoner. I refuse to live in fear." A few days before his death, Rodríguez published an article linking the attorney general's nephew to drug traffickers.

Related attacks
In the weeks following Rodríguez's murder, death threats were received by other El Diario journalists and other media in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua state. On November 6, 2008, a decapitated head was left at Journalists' Square in Ciudad Juárez. Rodríguez's wife, also a journalist, reportedly feared for her safety and that of her children.

Investigation
Both the state prosecutor and the Federal Special Prosecutor on Crimes against Journalists (Fiscalía Especial de Delitos Cometidos contra Periodistas, FEADP) are reportedly in charge of the investigation. On June 23, 2009, it was reported that the state attorney general's office had sent the findings of its investigation to the federal attorney general's office (PGR) in February so that the alleged mastermind and his accomplices, reportedly drug cartel members, could be arrested. Despite this, no arrests had taken place.

Two prosecutors in charge of investigating Rodríguez's case have been assassinated.

The Mexican Social Security Institute has apparently refused to pay a widow's and orphan's pension to Rodríguez's wife and daughter because it claimed that his murder was not related to his work as a journalist. According to a July 21, 2010 local news report, following a protest by journalists, the Chihuahua state governor promised that there had been "substantial" progress in the investigation into Rodríguez' killing and that the crime would soon be solved.

On September 22, 2010 the Attorney General announced the arrest of Juan Soto Arias, who was said to have confessed to the murder, motivated by Rodríguez' coverage of drug trafficking. However on September 27, El Diario reported allegations that Soto had been tortured into making the confession and that he denied killing the journalist. In another development, a video posted on the website of El Diario on October 25, 2010 reportedly showed lawyer Mario Angel Gonzalez, the kidnapped brother of former Chihuahua state attorney general Patricia Gonzalez, accusing his sister of ordering the killing of Rodríguez and another journalist, Enrique Perea Quintanilla, founder and editor of the monthly Dos Caras, Una Verdad.

The lawyer was seen handcuffed and surrounded by five heavily armed masked men. He said that his sister had ordered the killings after articles the journalists wrote linked her to the Juarez drug-trafficking cartel. The claims were treated with scepticism. On November 22, 2010 it was reported that although President Calderón had announced at multiple forums and meetings that an arrest has been made in the case of Rodríguez's murder, El Diario had confirmed with the authorities that the two legal bodies have not even issued arrest warrants, much less brought federal and state investigations before the authorities.

Update: On May 26, 2011 the Inter American Press Association sent a letter to President Calderón, signed by hundreds of newspaper readers throughout the Americas, calling on him to intervene in order to ensure that the stalled investigation into Rodríguez's murder moves forward and that those responsible for his death are brought to justice.