Remembering Armando Rodriguez

Today is the anniversary of the murder of El Diario de Juarez’ top crime reporter Armando "Choco" Rodriguez. At noon, his fellow journalists in Ciudad Juarez, who have attempted to continue his work in documenting the relentless violence in the largest US-Mexico border city, are gathering to remember him on the Plaza of the Journalist. They seek to remember him and to remind people that no one has been arrested for the slaying.

Rodriguez was killed while sitting in a car outside his home as he prepared to take his 8-year-old daughter to school. In 2008, Rodriguez' work in documenting murder cases in Juarez drew international attention to what was then an unprecedented wave of violence in the city.

This year, another 2,000 murders have been recorded in the city across from El Paso, Texas, which has become ground zero in the undeclared Mexican civil war on drugs. IRE visited the border in February to organize a dinner in Rodriguez' honor. Our efforts to support border journalists continue — as do our support for answers in his case.

Click here to read the press release (in Spanish) from IRE member Rocio Gallegos, Armando’s editor at El Diario. She closes it with these words: "Impunity kills!"